The Gifts

Gifts don’t have a standard listing of range, duration, and so on like miracles do. All the effects of gifts center on the blessed and have a permanent duration. Because they’re always in effect, they require no actions to invoke and no Target Number to meet. Nothing could be simpler.

All the other aspects of each gift are detailed in their descriptions.

Beast Friend

Some folks prefer animals to people, and looking at what passes for human sometimes, you really can’t blame ’em. And then there are the folks that animals prefer to other people. Often as not, these are blessed heroes, and the critters can sense goodness humans overlook.

A hero with this gift gains a +2 to all Mien- based Aptitudes when dealing with animals. He also gains a +2 to horse ridin’, teamster, and medicine: veterinary Aptitude rolls.

Charismatic

A character with this gift almost glows from the force of her personality. Folks just naturally take a shine to her and hold her in high regard.

The blessed’s personality determines exactly how this gift manifests itself. An amiable, pleasant person becomes even more likable, whereas a Hellfire and brimstone preacher appears more intimidating.

Regardless of the blessed’s nature, she gains a

+2 to all Mien Aptitudes when dealing with people, including certain humanlike abominations, such as Harrowed and nosferatu.

This bonus does not apply to Mien rolls made against animals or nonhuman abominations.

Clarity of Thought

All your hero’s time in prayer and meditation must have centered his mind, because he has the ability to think clearly in the worst situations.

Whenever your hero draws a single Action Card, he can discard it and immediately redraw another.

Unfortunately, even the calmest minds occasionally stumble, so if he pulls a black Joker, he’s stuck.

This gift is cumulative with the Edge level-headed, but only when your blessed draws a single Action Card. If he draws more than one, you can’t use clarity of thought, but you can still use the effect of level-headed.

Comforted

A hero with this gift never seems to break a sweat a lot or suffer goosebumps either—at least from the temperature, that is. Whether it’s the blistering heat of the Mojave desert or the bone- chilling cold of a Rocky Mountain blizzard, the blessed’s patron eases the ill effects of the weather on him.

The hero doesn’t suffer from cold temperatures until the mercury drops below 32°

F. Below that, he must make a Fair (5) survival roll for the proper environment each day. Otherwise he takes 1d4 times the number he failed the roll by in Wind. The TN increases by +1 for every 5° F below freezing (32°).

Likewise, he is immune to the effects of heat until the temperature rises above 110° F. Above 110° F, he has to make a survival roll against a Fair

(5) TN. The TN raises by +1 for each 5° Fahrenheit the temperature is above 110°. Failure inflicts the same kind of Wind loss as with freezing.

If the hero goes bust on his survival roll to resist temperature extremes, he has to roll a Vigor check just like other cowpokes to avoid suffering either heat stroke or hypothermia, depending on the environment. However, the TN for his Vigor roll is only Fair (5).

Divine Providence

If a hero has Heaven on her side, she can get away with a whole lot of things that less holy folk couldn’t even get a running start at. In Deadlands, she can even cheat the fickle hand of fate—a little bit anyway.

A character with divine providence can spend Fate Chips even when she goes bust.

This means that if the hero can alter enough dice in her roll so 1s are no longer the majority, she avoids the effects of going bust entirely. In fact, if she rolls well enough, she may succeed or even get raises on the roll to complete the task!

A character with luck o’ the Irish and divine providence who spends a red or a blue chip gets to reroll all 1s—almost ensuring success!

On the other hand, if the hero can’t improve her roll enough to escape going bust, it doesn’t matter how well she rolled on the other dice. She still busts.

Favored

Some blessed receive special attention from their chosen deity. These characters always seem to be just a little luckier than those around them.

A character with this gift receives a bonus white Fate Chip each session. This chip must be used by the end of the session. It doesn’t carry over to the next.

Also, the chip can’t be used for Bounty Points. It represents a bit of divine assistance when the character needs it most.

On the other hand, it can be used for any Trait or Aptitude roll or to avoid damage. Also, unlike a chip gained by holy roller, it can be used for any game effect that requires a chip—like consecrate weapon or a knack.

Favored of Heaven

The Powers That Be are looking out for your hero. So much so, in fact, that she has no chance of coming back from the dead as a walkin’ dead, vampire, or any other foul form of undead.

If your blessed is put down by a critter that would normally cause her to come back as an unholy undead, she has the good graces to stay dead and in the ground. She’s got no protection against other forms of unearthly transformation like lycanthropy—or worse.

Also, when she’s unlucky enough to die through other means, there is a chance that Heaven intervenes. She draws a number of cards equal to her faith Aptitude plus one additional.

If she draws the red Joker, she somehow avoids even certain death. Her work on Earth obviously isn’t finished yet, for she tenaciously clings to life. She does suffer a Critical wound to the guts, or at least enough to raise her wound level there to that location; however, somehow she remains alive.

If she draws a black Joker, for whatever reason, her Heavenly patron(s) has allowed her to return as a Harrowed; however, she does get a bonus to her first Dominion roll equal to her faith Aptitude. This roll replaces the regular Harrowed card draw.

Good Karma

Your hero has built quite a stock of good deeds to draw on in a clutch. For that reason, even Fate doesn’t seem to be quite as harsh with him as it is with most folks.

Whenever your blessed spends a red Fate Chip to add a die to a Trait or Aptitude roll, the Marshal doesn’t get a free draw from the Fate Pot. Also, anytime your hero pulls the black Joker, he still has to discard the Joker and any sleeve card, but at least the Marshal doesn’t get to draw from the Fate Pot.

Thank Heaven for small favors!

Guardian Angel

Some folks talk about having a guardian angel that looks out for them. When a blessed hero says she has a guardian angel, she may not just be using a figure of speech! Someone’s really looking out for the character.

The divine patrons of the blessed smile on their servants who take up the good fight and smite the enemies of the faith. But, being omniscient and all, they know a hero can’t very well smite a foe who puts a bullet in her from a quarter mile away.

To even the odds, a character with this gift gets a little special protection. Any shootin’ attacks against the hero automatically receive a –2 modifier. This modifier is in addition to any others that may apply.

The character receives this bonus even if tied down with a gun to her head! Her opponent must still make a shootin’ attack roll (at –2). If the shooter fails under these circumstances, his gun misfires or some similar freak event prevents the hero from catching a bullet. When the divine is involved, anything’s possible!

Gumption

Call it determination, pluck, or just plain cussedness, but whatever it is, your blessed’s got it in spades! She just doesn’t know when to give up, and her Heavenly allies appreciate that trait.

Once per game session, your hero can reroll a single Trait or Aptitude check; however, she’s stuck with the second result, for better or worse.

This doesn’t cost her any Fate Chips, but she can’t make a reroll if she goes bust on the first attempt. She can spend Fate Chips on the second roll as long as she doesn’t go bust. Even then, if she’s got the gift divine providence, she’s allowed to spend Fate Chips on it as usual; if not, she’s out of luck.

Hardy

A character with this gift is a born martyr.

He’s able to wrap himself in his faith and ignore his physical pain to a degree.

He can ignore 2 levels of wound modifiers. He still suffers the other effects of a wound, including Wind loss and stun.

This is cumulative with any other similar ability or spell, such as thick-skinned or a Harrowed’s resistance to pain.

Humility

Most religions hold meekness and humility as virtues worthy of pursuit. A blessed with this gift has learned the value of a humble spirit. She has completely vanquished the vice of Pride from her nature.

A blessed with this gift is completely immune to attempts to overawe, ridicule, and bluff her.

If the character is the target of such an attack, treat it as if the result of the appropriate opposed test was a tie. In such cases, the opponent doesn’t even roll his Aptitude—he just uses up an action!

On the other hand, a character with this gift can’t use overawe, ridicule, bluff, or the miracle chastise. Her humble nature simply doesn’t allow it.

Insight

Occasionally, a blessed character is granted a divine insight. He sees a little more of the world around him than average folks. The hero can discern more of the true nature of his surroundings than others, or maybe he’s just got a divinely inspired intuitive sense.

Whatever the source, the character gets a +2 bonus to all Cognition checks. This applies not only to Trait checks, but also to Aptitudes which are based on the hero’s Cognition, such as scrutinize or search. This bonus is cumulative with similar ones from Edges like keen or big ears.

Lion-Hearted

Some folks just don’t scare that easy to start with. Put the powers of Heaven behind them, and there’s just about nothing the Reckoners can throw at them that can make them run. Of course, often it’s the fastest runners that live the longest in Weird West.

A blessed with this gift gains a bonus of +2 to all guts checks. It doesn’t matter if the guts check is made to resist a steely-eyed gunslinger’s overawe or the Terror score of a horrific abomination. This hero’s got some kind of iron in her belly.

Additionally, this gift reduces the severity of the effects of a failed guts check against an abomination’s Terror score. The Marshal applies a –5 modifier to the roll on the Scart Table.

Regardless of the final adjusted number, there’s a minimum result of a 1 on any failed guts check against Terror.

Longevity

With all the diabolical threats in the Weird West, you’d think the last thing a fellow should have to worry about is dying of old age.

Nonetheless, a man’s time—even a blessed—on Earth is numbered. And when that number’s up, it’s time to go. But for a character with this gift, Heaven just counts a little slower.

The character ages only 1 year for every 2 normal years. Unfortunately for the old-timers, the gift is only effective from the time the blessed chooses this gift.

Longevity even works against any magical forms of aging, reducing the effectiveness of such attacks by half.

Magic Resistant

One of the most feared weapons of the servants of Darkness is their black magic. Their spells are deadly and easy—a sure recipe for danger! A character with this gift has been granted a special resistance to their accursed magics. Blessed heroes who are magic resistant are born witch hunters.

This gift gives a –4 modifier to the roll to cast any black magic spell cast against the hero.

While players really shouldn’t know too much about the abilities of their opponents, let’s just say that’s a fair boost in difficulty!

Magic resistant also gives some defense against a huckster’s hexes, too. It’s not quite as effective against hexes, but it still saddles the huckster with a –2 to his roll to cast a hex directly at the blessed.

This modifier applies to any hex or black magic spell cast at the hero—even those beneficial to her. The gift can’t be turned off.

It has no effect on miracles or favors, nor does it affect hexes or spells not cast specifically at the character.

Manna

Some folks are born to the wilderness. They can find edible parts in a pine cone and sleep in snow caves. Others aren’t so lucky. A hero with this gift has got someone looking out for him when he’s in the back country.

As long as the character is in a wilderness environment, she doesn’t need to worry about finding food. It is provided for her. This may be in the form of animals bringing morsels to the character, game that’s easy to find, or even literally “manna from Heaven.”

Pious

Some folks have a faith so strong others can sense it just by being near. Their confidence and holy aura serves to ease the worries of their companions, even as they walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death.

This isn’t going to make much sense until the Marshal gives you the okay to read the chapter on Fear in the Deadlands rulebook, but read on.

This aura of righteousness lowers the Fear Level by 2 in area around the blessed. This area has a radius equal to 1 yard for each of the blessed’s levels of faith. This gift can only lower the Fear Level to 0. If the area is already at a level of 1 or lower, the gift has no effect.

This isn’t a permanent change in the surrounding Fear Level of the area. It’s only effective as long as the blessed is present.

Because it’s not a permanent change, the gift doesn’t affect the TN for tale-tellin’ rolls. The TN is figured from the permanent Fear Level for the area, not the temporarily lowered level. However, the blessed’s aura of faith does aid somewhat in tale-tellin’. The sense of security radiating from the blessed provides the character with a +2 bonus to the roll.

Portents

A blessed with this gift isn’t exactly a prophet, although he does have the benefit of divine foresight from time to time. This hero’s patron gives him a subconscious nudge whenever he’s placing himself in harm’s way. Some folks seem to get into trouble so often, it may feel like they’re getting elbowed in the ribs constantly!

Whenever the hero is about to take a dangerous course of action, the Marshal has him roll an Onerous (7) Spirit test. If he succeeds, his character gets a sense he could be in danger.

Otherwise, he’s as oblivious as the next poor cowpoke.

To keep the hero guessing, the Marshal may have the player roll Spirit rolls at random times throughout a session. That way, he can’t automatically know the hero’s in danger when he has to make such a roll.

Prophecy

It never hurts to know what’s waiting around the next corner. This is especially true nowadays when it might be some monster straight out of someone’s worst nightmare! Unfortunately, normal folks have to use a mirror if they want to know what’s around a corner.

On the other hand, the blessed’s patron is all- knowing, and occasionally the deity grants a blessed with this gift a glimpse of the future.

Once per adventure, the blessed can pray for a prophetic vision. This doesn’t require any sort of roll, but it does take 1d8 hours of prayer and meditation. At the end of that period, she is granted a vision of some coming event. The details revealed by the prophecy are always hidden within a cryptic vision.

These auguries may reveal a future threat or even how to defeat it. Exactly what information the blessed learns is up to the Marshal.

It’s up to the hero to interpret the meaning of her prophecy. Another blessed can invoke interpret vision for her, but remember, a hero can not use that miracle on her own prophecies.

Refuge o’ Faith

All blessed heroes may not have a guardian angel looking after them, but they all have a whole lot of faith their deity will protect them from harm. This miracle goes a long way toward proving that belief well-founded.

This gift lets the character use his faith Aptitude as an active defense in place of dodge or fightin’. Whenever he wants to try to avoid an attack, he follows the normal procedures for active defenses, except he rolls his faith instead of his dodge or fightin’ Aptitude. His attacker’s TN to hit him is now the greater of either his normal TN or the blessed’s faith roll.

Of course, just like with any active defense, the character must spend his highest card to use this miracle. As always, any card up the hero’s sleeve is considered his highest.

Restoration

Everybody knows the divine patrons of the blessed don’t allow them to use their miracles to heal their own maladies. Earthly afflictions help folks keep the demon Pride at bay. That doesn’t mean they’re expected to be permanent members of the walking wounded, though.

A blessed with this gift heals a good deal quicker than normal. The character makes healing rolls every 3 days instead of once a week. Additionally, the blessed gets a +2 to all natural healing rolls for her injuries.

Self-Discipline

Followers of certain religions, particularly those of the mysterious East, seek to gain a mastery over their fragile mortal bodies. By doing so, they can ignore the mundane requirements of the world and better focus on the pursuit of spiritual purity. A benefit is the ability to perform some pretty astounding feats!

A blessed with the gift of self-discipline has a fine-tuned control over his physical body. He’s capable of reducing his need for food, drink, and even air itself to levels far below those a normal cowpoke could survive.

The first benefit is the hero can go without food or water for a fair piece before he begins to suffer the effects of starvation. He doesn’t begin to lose Wind from lack of food and drink until after a number of days equal to his faith level.

At the end of that period, he only needs to begin to eat normally to avoid Wind loss.

The second ability a hero gains from self- discipline is the ability to control his breathing. Anytime he would suffer Wind loss from suffocation, he takes only half the normal amount. This includes drowning and hanging. A hero who “picks up the Pace” still loses the normal amount of Wind.

Finally, the blessed can lower not only his breathing but also his heartbeat to such a level as to appear dead to the casual observer. The blessed can maintain this effect for 1 minute for every level of his faith. Anyone examining a hero playing possum in this manner must make an opposed roll of medicine: any versus the blessed’s faith.

Spiritual Giant

Blessed possess tremendous faith and spirit. Unfortunately, the strength of their beliefs often far outstrips the abilities of their physical bodies. This miracle allows the blessed to call upon some of that enormous belief to protect them from their foes.

A blessed with this gift gains a +1 to her Size for purposes of determining damage only. Her physical body doesn’t actually change in appearance or size. However, her ability to resist damage does increase accordingly.

The invoker gains no other increased physical abilities as a result of this miracle.

Since he’s of average height and weight, Reverend Harding would normally be Size 6, but he’s a spiritual giant. This permanently adds +1 to his Size (only for purposes of determining wounds), making him Size 7. Now, to inflict a wound on the good Reverend, an attack must do 7 points of damage instead of the usual 6. An attack that did 13 points of damage would cause a light wound.

Strong-Willed

A blessed with this gift can make a mule look spineless. He’s not necessarily stubborn; he just isn’t too easy to bully into anything he doesn’t want to do. Come to think of it, it’s not all that easy to sweet talk him into it either.

The hero gains a +2 on all rolls to resist overawe, persuasion, bluff, and ridicule. Any magical attempts to influence the character’s will or actions also receive a –2 to the roll.‌

Tongues

One of the greatest obstacles missionaries of any religion face is language. It’s disheartening to travel halfway across the globe to save the lost and then end up in a stew pot because you don’t know how to say, “I’m not food.”

A blessed with the gift of tongues has a talent for communication. This gift allows her to communicate on a basic level with almost anyone—as long as the other party is human, of course!

Anytime the hero must convey information to someone who doesn’t speak a common language with her, she can make an Onerous (7) Mien roll. If she’s successful, she can pass along simple information or requests. Examples of the types of communication possible are “I am hungry,” “I need help,” “Who is in charge here?” and the like.

Conversely, if the blessed is attempting to understand a speaker of a different language, she makes an Onerous (7) Smarts roll. Success indicates she can grasp the basic idea of the sentence. For instance, if a Sioux brave says (in Siouan), “A devil bat haunts that mesa,” the blessed would understand, “That place is dangerous.” Obviously, the general nuances are there, but particular pieces of information can be entirely lost.

Tongues allows only simple information exchange—a blessed couldn’t explain the tenets of her religion through this gift. However, the basic comprehension granted by the gift is often enough to avoid a dangerous misunderstanding.

Vitality

The frontier never was the most sanitary place to live. Typhoid and cholera rode west with the first prairie schooners. As if that weren’t bad enough, now there’s all kinds of unnatural diseases to boot. It’s getting so a fellow can’t drink the water even north of the Mexican border!

The blessed have always tended to the needs of the faithful—even those afflicted with deadly and contagious diseases. It’s a good thing their patrons look out for them.

A blessed with vitality has been gifted with near immunity to all forms of disease and infection. She gains a +5 to any Trait or Aptitude roll to resist or heal a normal disease.

The hero even has a chance to shake off the effects of an unnatural disease. Against diseases like lycanthropy that allow a Vigor roll to resist their effects, the character receives her full +5 modifier from vitality.

She can also withstand the effects of particularly nasty ailments that normally don’t give the victim a chance to resist—like the bite of a faminite—by making a Hard (9) Vigor roll. The hero doesn’t get her bonus on this roll, but at least she does get a chance.

Wisdom

The legend says when King Solomon was offered any one thing he wanted, of all his possible choices he asked for wisdom. Many blessed have made the same choice, and not a one has complained.

The hero gains a +2 to Smarts and Knowledge rolls. This includes both Trait rolls and any Aptitude rolls based on Smarts or Knowledge.

Among other uses, it’s certainly a good idea for anyone who plans to have a lot of religious debates.

Zeal

Some blessed believe a job well done is a reflection on the power of their faith and deity. These folk can devote themselves to Earthly tasks with the same fervor they show for their heavenly missions.

At the beginning of each session, a blessed with zeal can choose any single Aptitude and add +2 to all rolls with that Aptitude for the duration of the session. The only exception to this is the faith Aptitude. That’s where the blessed draws his zeal from in the first place!

Saint Patrick’s Boon

Your blessed is a born snake- handler! Well, maybe not born, but with a little divine assistance, she does just fine. She’s totally immune to natural animal venoms, like those of a rattler, copperhead, or even a scorpion. The bite might sting a bit, but she suffers no ill effects from the poison.

This resistance extends to other poisons as well, although it’s not completely full proof against them. She gets a +4 on Vigor rolls to resist the venom of abominations, alchemical toxins, or poisons created