Alien Artifact

An alien artifact is a strange device or relic that the character doesn’t know anything about. It could be an object of alien origin, or a one-of-a-kind experimental gadget, or even an experimental process used on the character at some point in the past. Somewhere in his travels, the character came to possess the artifact or the abilities it provides. Any alien artifact that is an item is small enough to be easily carried around or worn as an accessory to a character’s outfit. The character doesn’t know his item’s function or purpose; he has to discover exactly what the artifact does as the campaign progresses.

As a flaw, an alien artifact provides mostly disadvantages to a character—but every artifact also has its positive side. Some artifacts provide a constant penalty; others require that the character make a check to activate the artifact. All artifacts, perk or flaw, have the same distinguishing trait: they are extremely rare, exceedingly valuable, and highly coveted—someone wants the one your character possesses, and that someone will stop at nothing to get it.

As for an artifact’s positive side, that can range from an unknown perk that manifests when the character least expects it to a simple bonus that is constantly in play even while the artifact is penalizing the character in some manner. Note that a benefit will never cancel out a penalty—the two aspects of an artifact will always be unrelated. (So, you won’t find an artifact that provides a character with a +1 penalty to the use of Dexterity-based skills and a -1 bonus to the use of Dexterity-based skills at the same time.)

Alien artifacts are listed and described in the Gamemaster Guide. After you select this flaw, the Gamemaster will design an alien artifact for your character.