Skip to content

Paranaturals

The oracle studies the cards carefully. All paths point to tragedy except for one. Bound to an ancient entity, the paranatural prepares to gamble their life to save the person they love. The immortal clutches the necklace of wedding rings around his neck as he looks down the barrel of the pistol – bracing himself for the nightmares that come shortly before each resurrection. 

Paranaturals are as varied as the abilities they wield. Their powers are rare and useful for Equinox in pursuing its goals but such gifts always come at a price – something which all paranaturally empowered individuals know well.

Examples of characters who fulfil the paranatural role in fiction include:

  • Jesse Faden (Control);
  • SCP-105 (SCP Franchise); 
  • Captain Jack Harkness (Torchwood);
  • Robin Morel (Injection); and
  • Saga Anderson (Alan Wake II).  

Class Skill: Sixth Sense

The character can identify paranatural objects and will be informed by referees if a location is under the influence of a paranatural effect. This sense does not however identify the cause of the paranatural effect or provide details on what the effect, if any, might be – this will require further investigation.

Specialisation

Paranaturals can receive one of the specialisations below. Repeated or extreme use of their powers are likely to result in the player receiving condition cards as well as any other listed effects:

Bound

The Bound have no powers of their own but, whether through blood or a paranatural ceremony gone wrong, they have managed to somehow bind themselves to a powerful paranatural entity or entities known as ‘The Dealer” or “Dealers”. Equinox knows relatively little about the nature of the Dealers as their appearance, approach and relationship with the individual to whom they are bound varies. What is consistent however is that the Dealers are willing to offer untold power and knowledge to the Bound if they are willing to sit at the table and gamble with their life and the lives of others to obtain it. 

To achieve their goals the Bound (and potentially others) will play a game like Blackjack with the Dealer set up as below:

  • Once per Act, a Bound may perform a five minute ceremony in front of a member of the Game Team to arrange a game with the Dealer. As part of this they must have a written copy of what they want to play for and this must be set out in twelve words or less. Upon the conclusion of the ceremony, the written copy of what they want to play for will disappear. Once a ceremony has been conducted, the Bound may not perform it again until they have played the game with the Dealer.
    If the ceremony is performed within the first two hours of an Act, a response detailing the terms of the game will be delivered to the Bound. If performed in the final two hours of an Act, a response will be delivered at the start of the following Act. This response will set out the difficulty of the game to be carried out and the terms of some deals have been known to be impossible to achieve.
  • Following receipt of a response from the Dealer, the Bound has fifteen minutes to either:
    • Accept the terms. If accepted the Dealer will arrange a time and place for the game to take place. This will usually be during the subsequent Act; or
    • Amend up to three words of their original twelve word request. If amended the terms will be taken away and a response will be provided in line with the timings for the original ceremony. A Bound may only amend their request a maximum of two times following which they must accept the terms of the game (even if this might be more onerous than previous terms).
  • When the time and place of the game arrives, the Bound and up to four characters will be taken to a private space where the game will take place. This space cannot be observed by any characters not playing. The players must hit the exact target number to get what they want. If they fail, there’s a cost. If they exceed it, the result might be twisted or come with a price, decided by the Dealer.

The Dealers will never force someone into playing, but once someone has sat at the table they cannot leave without paying a cost to do so. During the game the Dealers may offer additional opportunities to those playing.

A character with this Specialisation may only undertake this game with the Dealer twice per event. The Dealer has been known to stop replying to Bound who attempt to bypass this limit. 

Take this specialisation if you want to be able to achieve almost anything – but only if you are willing to gamble with your life and that of your fellow Equinox’s members in order to succeed. You may also enjoy this specialisation if you like the idea of roleplaying with an unknown and terrifying cosmic force. 

Empathic Profiling

The paranatural is supernaturally empathetic – not only able to absorb an individual’s feelings but their thoughts and memories. With enough time and information to hand, the individual can create a copy of the subject’s mind within their own – able to study the individual’s actions in detail and interrogate them for further information. Synching up with another individual’s mind however is a dangerous and risky process that can leave the paranatural exposed to potential manipulation by the target of their investigations.

The character:

  • Has the ability to determine a target’s emotional state of being. After five minutes of studying a target, the paranatural can show another character their “Empathetic Profiling” lammie to request the target share their current emotional state. This must be answered truthfully by the target. Once received, the paranatural takes on the accompanying emotional state provided to them by their target for at least ten minutes. Where the target is a monstrous creature, a paranatural can instead make this request via a referee.  
  • Can twice per Act can enter their mind palace to recreate the mind of a target. The character must have physically met their target during the course of the event and used “Empathetic Profiling” on them once. Once the character has recreated the target within their mind-palace, they may ask one question of their target from the list below:
    • What does your character want?
    • What does your character fear?
    • What is your character hiding?
    • What does your character want mine to do?
    • What does your character know about [relevant topic, event, item, etc]?
    • What is effective leverage against your character? 

The character may ask additional questions where they have items or information that give them a pertinent insight into their target. The more information a character has on a target, the more accurate the answers given. For NPCs, this will be clearly indicated on documents and items.

This mind palace is physically represented by a black box space away from the rest of the player base in which both the paranatural and the mind palace’s representation of the target are present. No other character may enter the paranatural’s mind palace unless they have an item or ability that allows them to do so.

In order to use this skill, a character must alert a referee to let them know out-of-character that they intend to use this skill. In speaking with the referee, they must name their target and set out what questions they intend to ask (along with any items or information they believe entitle them to additional questions). The reason for this is to allow the referee to find the target in question and, where appropriate, brief them accordingly. Once both the referee and target are ready, the referee will inform the character they can use the skill accordingly and will set out a space where the mind palace scene can occur. 

A paranatural with this ability is vulnerable to becoming too closely aligned to their targets. A paranatural may find that elements of their targets linger with them after the fact, manipulating their behaviour or subtly changing them. Sometimes shards of their targets remain, causing the paranatural to question their identity or drive them to carry out actions on their target’s behalf.

Take this specialisation if you like being a supernatural investigator who is able to gain supernatural insights into their targets. You may enjoy interrogating targets in spooky environs or roleplaying being on the edge of losing your sense of identity. Characters with this ability are likely to work closely with field agents to study and obtain information on targets during the course of the event. 

Where the character uses their mind palace ability against a player character, you must speak out-of-character with one another to determine how many questions a paranatural with this ability may ask of the topic. Once agreed out-of-character, the referee can arrange for the scene accordingly. In the case of a disagreement between players, the referees can mediate accordingly. The referees decision in this event is final. 

Immortal

Some individuals do not discover that they have paranatural abilities until they meet their demise – only to quickly recover afterwards with their physical wounds healed. While often seen as a boon, those who seek to exploit their newfound condition quickly come to realise that immortality is too good to be true. Most Immortals age to early to late middle age and then stop physically ageing.

The paranatural takes damage as normal but is otherwise functionally immortal and cannot be killed by mundane means. Five minutes after having been declared dead, the character will return to life with all hit points restored. When this occurs, unless a condition card says so, all Condition Cards with the “Physical” trait are removed from the character. Coming back from the dead however is a traumatic experience and a character with this specialisation gains a Condition Card with the “Psychological” or “Paranatural” trait each time they come back from the dead in this way. Condition Cards received in this way cannot be removed by any means and will be flagged as such. 

Anyone with this specialisation starts play with the “Scrambled Memories” Condition Card. This Condition Card represents the Immortal’s difficulty in remembering past events in significant detail. As part of its research into Immortals, Equinox has discovered that all Immortals have some degree of resistantce to the use of mnestic drugs and effects (these being drugs that aid in the recovery of memories). 

In addition to the above, the paranatural may choose one of the class skills from either:

  • Field Agent (“Trained Fighter”);
  • Intelligence Analyst (“Insightful”);
  • Researcher (“Research and Development”); or 
  • Physician (“Lifesaver”).

to represent general training. It should be noted that the Immortal does not gain access to a Specialisation. Accordingly, any research led by the Immortal will require the assistance of other Researchers in order to be successful. 

Take this specialisation if you want to be given a power which makes your character immortal, but not immune, to damage. You may also enjoy finding ways of using the ability to assist Equinox, whether in research or practically in combat. 

Medium

The world is full of strange paranatural entities and phenomena which lie beyond the senses of most mortals. Your character however is an exception to the rule. The character:

  • Has the ability to receive communication from entities which are beyond normal human comprehension. This is phys-repped in-game through the use of a radio where messages delivered to the Medium will be sent; and
  • Can, once an Act, with an appropriately roleplayed ceremony lasting at least 5 minutes, also reach out and make contact with an entity but whether the entity will respond will be dependent on the nature of the ceremony and the entity itself. 

A paranatural with this ability is not able to simply close off their mind to these entities and as such is vulnerable at all times to unwanted communications and potential manipulation accordingly. Such effects will be provided to the Medium by way of Condition Cards.

Take this specialisation if you want to commune with the strange, hidden entities of the universe or be harried by them for information and assistance. Please note that it is intended that this role will require the attendee to wear a radio through which such messages will be received. If this is an access issue, please let us know when selecting this Specialisation and we will look to take steps to accommodate this. 

Oracle

Your character is a modern Nostradamus and is able to receive accurate visions of the future. While many have used this ability for personal gain, others have understood that the real value of the skill comes from the ability to change the future for the better. The difficulty however is, often, understanding how. Your character:

  • Receives a vision at the start of the event and then one Saturday and Sunday morning. These visions represent glimpses of a future event and may contain inconsistent details, be wrapped in metaphor or be of an event that takes place a considerable amount of time from when the vision is received. These are collected prior to time-in each day by speaking with a Game Team member at the Games Operation Desk. Once received out-of-character, the character is welcome to roleplay how they receive the vision in a manner which suits them; 
  • Can, twice an Act, with an appropriately roleplayed ceremony lasting at least 5 minutes attempt to ask a single question of the future. The question must be framed as a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question pertaining to an event which is yet to happen and the ceremony must be performed in front of a Game Team member. Answers may not be immediately forthcoming and take as long to receive as is necessary for the referee to obtain this information out of character and bring it to the attention of the player. During this time, the character may continue to roleplay as normal but may not perform the ceremony again until they have received the answer to their question; and
  • Gains a unique Condition Card that allows them to once an event, call ‘Resist’ to ‘Bang’, ‘Stun’, ‘Rend’ or ‘Kaboom’. This may be given to another character to give them the same ability by giving them a vague, cryptic warning about the future. If given to someone else this ability cannot be used or moved by the Oracle a second time.

Please note that visions of the future often leave the character vulnerable to witnessing terrible and tragic events beyond their control. As such it is possible an Oracle may receive Condition Cards as a result of using their abilities depending on what it is they have divined or are proposing to divine.

Take this specialisation if you want to be able to see the future and shape the outcome of it for good or ill. You may also enjoy taking this skill if you like asking questions about the outcome of possible events to come. Finally you gain a very limited amount of survivability which is not otherwise readily available to other characters. 

Psychometry

Many researchers in Equinox have theorised that human beings leave emotional resonances on items and places of significance. Despite years of attempting to spot and read these resonances, none of Equinox’s researchers have found the means to do so. Your character however has the exceptional ability to read the impressions left on physical objects or places which at times can be both a blessing a curse. Your character:

  • Focusing on an object or location can obtain visions of pertinent events in its past or strong emotional resonances tied to the area. This is done by reading envelopes which are labelled as “Psychometry” or by speaking with a member of the Game Team; 
  • Can, twice an Act, perform an appropriately roleplayed ceremony lasting at least 5 minutes to force a vision of the past as it pertains to a paranatural object or location. The ceremony must be performed in front of a member of the Game Team and as part of the ceremony the paranatural may ask up to three questions as set out in the list below:
    • When did the vision happen?
    • Who was involved in the vision?
    • What led to this event taking place or object being created?

Answers may not be immediately forthcoming and take as long to receive as is necessary for a Game Team member to obtain this information out of character and bring it to the attention of the player. During this time, the character may continue to roleplay as normal but may not perform the ceremony again until they have received the answer to their question.

Visions of the past will take a toll on both the mind and body of a paranatural using this ability. As such it is possible an paranatural using this ability may receive may receive Condition Cards as a result of using their abilities depending on what it is they are attempting to use psychometry on.

Take this specialisation if you enjoy studying and investigating items and locations while being vulnerable to influence from echoes of that event. Characters with this skill are also likely to work closely with Researchers when studying paranatural phenomena tied to items or places.

Please note that there will not be a vision for every location or item in-game and, in the case of personal effects owned by other characters, it is encouraged that players speak out-of-character with one another to determine what a paranatural with this ability may discern from using their abilities on the item. This is purely out-of-character however and goes beyond the scope of these rules to the extent that a player who owns the item does not have to provide further context or information if they do not want to do so. 

Psychokinetic

While there are many paranatural entities who have extensive mental abilities, the number of humans with the ability to manipulate matter with their mind are, thankfully, rare. Those individuals who do have this innate gift understand however that such power can be a quick route to an untimely death. The character can:

  • Can actively choose to resist a Condition Card with the “Psychological” or “Paranatural” trait by taking the ‘Rend’ effect to the head instead. A character who does this may know if a paranatural phenomena was attempting to influence their mind;
  • Once an Act, by sticking out both arms in front of them, the character may call ‘Resist’ to any ‘Bang’ targeting them. The character during this time takes no damage from these calls but must maintain concentration throughout and can only walk and speak slowly. If the character is struck by a melee weapon, stops concentrating on the effect or otherwise lowers their arms the ability ends. Once the character ends the effect, they immediately take the ‘Stun’ effect to the head and are knocked unconscious; and
  • May with five seconds of appropriate roleplay focussing intently on an individual, lash out at them with psychic power to strike that individual for:
    • Stun’ or ‘Rend

The individual must be within 30 ft of the character and they must be able to physically see them (IE you cannot deliver this through a camera feed) Immediately upon lashing out with this ability the character takes the ‘Stun’ effect to the head. If the character struck for ‘Rend’, they take the ‘Rend’ effect to the head instead. 

Extensive use of these abilities especially in close proximity to one another runs the risk of the character incurring Condition Cards with the “Physical Trauma” trait as the power of their mind puts stress on their body.

Take this specialisation if you want to bring ‘magic’ to a gunfight or resist all attempts to influence or control your mind. This however is not without cost and can put your character in extreme danger if used recklessly.