Crystals

Crystals

Crystals are among the most dangerous and most valuable relics left behind by the Celestar age.

To most people, a Crystal is an exotic contraband object, a miracle power source, or a rumor told by spacers who swear a town changed overnight after someone unearthed the wrong artifact. To Stellaris, a Crystal is something more specific: a dormant or awakened Celestar Crystal, a remnant of ancient Astra technology that has absorbed Astra for centuries or millennia and now expresses that stored resonance in unstable, often highly contextual ways.

Crystals are not Star Stones.

A Star Stone is a galactic-scale Astra engine, something so vast and powerful that entire regions of space once depended on it. A Crystal is smaller, local, personal, and far more common, though still incredibly rare by ordinary standards. A Crystal might change a room, a ruin, a district, a valley, a settlement, or a city. If an effect reaches across worlds or sectors, the problem is no longer merely a Crystal.

For game purposes, Crystals are both relics and living forces. They grant powers, alter the minds and bodies of those who bear them, respond to ancient Celestar systems, and create the strange frontier anomalies that define many Stellaris missions.

Crystals and Celestar Technology

Ancient Celestar systems often recognize a Crystal as proof of partial Celestar identity.

A Crystal’s Rank is read by many old Celestar relics as both a security credential and a biological signature. In practical terms, a socketed Crystal acts as a diluted form of Celestar genetic authority. This allows some old stations, vaults, archives, doors, transit systems, and research facilities to respond to a bearer who otherwise has no Celestar blood at all.

Use the following as a broad guideline:

Crystal Rank	Celestar Access Recognition
Novice	Minimal public-access recognition; simple doors, public systems, and low-level archives
Seasoned	Standard everyday access; routine operational permissions
Veteran	Elevated technical or trusted-user access
Heroic	Officer-level access; recognized as close Celestar hybrid authority
Legendary	Near-full Celestar access; recognized as effectively Celestar for most systems

As a rule, Celestar Androids are usually recognized at Legendary access unless a specific system was designed otherwise.

Anatomy of a Crystal

Every Crystal is defined by four core elements:

• Rank, which measures its overall power and scope
• Theme, which defines what kind of Astra expression it embodies
• Benefit, which grants the bearer always-on advantages
• Disposition, which influences the bearer’s mind, instincts, and personality

Together these determine what a Crystal can do, how dangerous it is, and what sort of relationship it forms with the person carrying it.

Rank

A Crystal’s Rank represents both its power and the depth of its influence.

Stellaris recognizes five formal Crystal ranks. Outside the Agency, most people do not know this classification system at all.

Novice Crystals

Novice Crystals are the weakest known stable rank. They usually grant a modest passive benefit and a smaller set of powers, often supportive, sensory, or utility-focused in nature.

A feral Novice Crystal might make a chamber uncomfortably warm, create strange repetitive thoughts, or lightly alter local gravity, sound, or mood.

Seasoned Crystals

Seasoned Crystals are stronger and usually more focused. They often grant one or two more forceful abilities and begin expressing their theme in more deliberate ways.

A feral Seasoned Crystal might overgrow a structure with poisonous flora, tint a river with hallucinogenic runoff, or plunge a ruin into living shadow.

Veteran Crystals

Veteran Crystals have broader capability and often grant several potent always-on effects. These are the rank most experienced Agents prefer in the field, balancing power with survivability.

A feral Veteran Crystal might transform an entire cave network, animate corpses, twist architecture into organic forms, or alter weather across a large district.

Heroic Crystals

Heroic Crystals are rare, heavily regulated, and overwhelmingly dangerous in the wrong hands. A bearer using one effectively becomes a major force on the battlefield.

A feral Heroic Crystal may transform a town, dominate a city block, warp a settlement’s entire ecosystem, or produce continuous manifestations across a city.

Legendary Crystals

Legendary Crystals are unique artifacts of terrifying potential. Only five are publicly acknowledged by Stellaris, and only the Council is permitted to wield them.

A Legendary Crystal may influence a continent or an entire world.

Rumors persist of a sixth Legendary Crystal, carried by Alex, the Celestar Android tied to the Aeon. If true, its theme appears linked not to destruction or domination, but to the activation and powering of Celestar technology.

Theme

A Crystal’s theme is its central concept: what it is about.

A theme may be simple, such as fire, shadow, gravity, growth, memory, or light. It may also be stranger, such as resonance, hunger, silence, recursion, false life, pressure, thresholds, or electric instinct.

The theme is expressed through the Crystal’s powers, trappings, side effects, feral manifestations, and disposition. The better an Agent understands a Crystal’s theme, the more precisely they can use it and the more successfully they can improvise new expressions through Power Stunts.

A theme also determines how a Crystal interacts with the world.

If the environment matches the theme, the Crystal should usually interact with it. A fire Crystal should be able to influence existing flames. A gravity Crystal should affect weight, falls, or pressure. A memory Crystal may interact with psychic residue, recorded impressions, or places saturated with emotional history.

This becomes especially important when different Crystals meet, when ancient Celestar systems respond to a bearer, or when a feral Crystal has already reshaped the local environment.

Casual Use

A theme can often be expressed in small, instinctive ways without a full activation roll.

Casual use may grant +1 to a relevant Trait roll, but it must remain minor, indirect, and non-combat in nature. It cannot be used offensively, against unwilling targets, or in stressful action scenes.

Examples include:

• a heat-themed Crystal gently warming your hands before an endurance check
• a shadow-themed Crystal helping you blend with darkness before a Stealth roll
• a resonance-themed Crystal helping you hear a machine’s failing rhythm before an Electronics or Repair roll

If real effort, danger, or dramatic effect is involved, it is no longer casual use. It becomes a power activation or a Power Stunt.

Benefit

Every Crystal grants one or more passive benefits simply by being socketed.

These may take the form of:

• an Edge
• an increase to one or more Traits
• a persistent passive capability
• a constant protective, sensory, or mobility effect

These benefits are always active unless the Crystal is desynced, suppressed, or otherwise unusable.

An Edge granted by a Crystal counts as yours for all purposes except character advancement. You may use it, benefit from it, and qualify for effects that build off it, but you do not permanently own it unless you later purchase it normally.

Double Edged

Sometimes a bearer sockets a Crystal that grants an Edge they already possess.

If that happens:

• If the Edge has an improved version, gain the improved version and ignore its requirements.
• If you already have the improved version, increase all numerical values by 1.
• If a die is granted or modified, raise it by one die step.
• If the Edge grants a reroll, gain one additional reroll.

Disposition

No Crystal is neutral.

Every Crystal pushes on the bearer’s psyche in some way. This influence is called its disposition. It may be emotional, instinctive, obsessive, spiritual, or physical, but it is always tied to the Crystal’s theme.

A Crystal of fire may encourage intensity, anger, restlessness, or destructiveness. A Crystal of memory may create nostalgia, fixation, sorrow, or invasive recollection. A Crystal of stone may foster stubbornness, stillness, patience, or emotional heaviness.

Mechanically, a Crystal’s disposition is usually expressed as one or more Hindrances.

The bearer is affected by this disposition at all times. Higher Rank Crystals usually impose stronger, harder-to-ignore psychological pressure.

Double Trouble

If a Crystal grants a Hindrance the bearer already has:

• If the Hindrance has a Major version, it becomes Major.
• Otherwise, increase all numerical penalties by 1.
• If the Hindrance has no direct numeric effect, the combined impulse becomes nearly overwhelming.

Whenever a strong opportunity arises to act according to such a doubled Hindrance, the bearer must make a Spirit roll to act otherwise.

A doubled Death Wish, Driven, Cautious, or Vengeful tendency can become profoundly dangerous.

Crystal Powers

A Crystal grants access to several powers that all emerge from the same theme.

Unless otherwise noted, powers function as described in Savage Worlds, but Crystals do not use Power Points the way normal Arcane Backgrounds do. Instead, powers are activated through Crystal Channeling, a direct act of resonance, control, and mental synchronization between bearer and Crystal.

Powers listed for a Crystal should be read as the most common and stable expressions of that theme, not its only possibilities.

Crystal Channeling

Crystal Channeling is the act of harmonizing yourself with the Crystal in your harness and urging it to produce a specific effect.

It is not prayer, spellcasting, or rote psionic technique. It is a dangerous blend of emotional control, internal biofeedback, psychological discipline, and direct Astra resonance.

Arcane Background: Crystal Channeling

Arcane Background (Crystal Channeling) replaces conventional Power Point use for Stellaris Agents and other properly trained Crystal bearers.

• Linked Attribute: Spirit
• Starting Skill: Stellaris Agents begin with Crystal Channeling d4
• Power Points: None

To activate a power, choose the effect and make a Crystal Channeling roll.

Activating a power usually does not require speech, though some users employ gestures, posture changes, breath discipline, or focusing rituals. When a power is activated, the Crystal usually glows with its distinctive color, often bright enough to be visible through clothing or armor seams.

Activation Penalty

The Crystal Channeling roll is made with a penalty equal to half the power’s normal Power Point cost, rounded up.

That same method is used for most Power Modifiers.

Activating a Power

Once you roll Crystal Channeling, apply the result below.

• Success: The power activates normally.
• Raise: The power activates with any additional benefits normally granted by a raise.
• Failure: The power does not activate. You may choose to force it to activate anyway as if you had rolled a 4, but you immediately suffer 1 level of Fatigue. This Fatigue can only be removed by a few minutes of calm meditation with no active powers. If this Fatigue Incapacitates you, the power still activates first.
• Critical Failure: Treated as a failure, and you also desync.

Difference in Ranks

Using a Crystal above your own heroic experience is dangerous.

Apply the difference between your character Rank and the Crystal’s Rank to the activation roll:

• If the Crystal’s Rank is higher, apply that difference as a penalty
• If the character’s Rank is higher, apply that difference as a bonus

Maintaining Powers

All non-instant powers may be maintained as long as desired and dismissed as a free action.

Each maintained power inflicts a -1 penalty on future Crystal Channeling rolls.

Power Modifiers

To use a Power Modifier, apply a penalty equal to half its Power Point cost, rounded up.

In most cases, this is -1.

A Crystal may use common Power Modifiers if:

• they make narrative sense
• they fit the theme
• the GM allows them

Some powers are always used with a particular Modifier already built in. In those cases, removing that built-in expression usually requires a Power Stunt.

Power Preparation

A bearer may spend an entire round preparing a power.

This requires:

• no movement
• no other actions
• the bearer must not be Shaken or Stunned

If successful, the bearer ignores 2 points of penalties on all Crystal Channeling rolls made on their next turn.

Ongoing Powers

Outside tense scenes, Ongoing powers do not require a roll to activate.

The bearer simply takes a few moments to focus and release the Crystal into that higher state of expression. They may even choose to activate the power as if they had rolled a raise.

During action scenes, Ongoing powers still require an action and a Crystal Channeling roll like any other power.

Ongoing powers always carry a narrative risk: the Crystal is running “hot,” which means the bearer is stronger, but the disposition is also stronger.

Desync

A Critical Failure on a Crystal Channeling roll can trigger a catastrophic backlash between mind, Crystal, and harness.

This is called desync.

When desynced, the Crystal stops functioning as the bearer’s heart. The bearer immediately begins choking and suffocating.

Desync Effects

A desynced character:

• loses access to the Crystal’s powers
• immediately drops all maintained powers
• may or may not retain passive benefits and disposition, at the GM’s discretion

The bearer can hold their breath for a number of rounds equal to 2 + their Vigor die, or only half that if they had no time to prepare for it, which is usually the case.

Another character may attempt to resync the bearer with a Healing roll as an action:

• -1 without a first aid kit
• -2 if attempting to resync yourself

When the bearer runs out of breath, they become Incapacitated and lose consciousness.

They then die in a number of rounds equal to their Vigor die, unless resuscitated with a Healing roll at -2 before that time expires.

Power Stunts

The listed powers of a Crystal are only the most stable and reflexive expressions of its theme.

A creative bearer may force the Crystal to express that theme in a new way. This is called a Power Stunt.

A Power Stunt allows temporary use of any power from Savage Worlds so long as:

• the effect fits the Crystal’s theme
• both player and GM agree on the interpretation

Using a Power Stunt

The cost is 1 Benny.

That Benny grants:

• a one-use effect for any instant-duration power, or
• three rounds of any longer-duration power

A new Crystal Channeling roll before the duration expires extends it by another three rounds.

The Benny is spent only after the power and interpretation are approved.

Calculate the Crystal Channeling penalty normally, including all Modifiers.

Power Stunts always require an activation roll. They are never treated as Ongoing.

Permanent Understanding

If the bearer gets two raises when activating a Power Stunt, something clicks into place.

That Stunt becomes a new permanent power for that bearer with that Crystal.

Even if they later remove and re-socket the Crystal, they still know that expression of it.

Guidance for the GM

Reward creativity, but do not let Power Stunts become universal access to every possible power.

The Crystal’s theme still matters. Trappings matter. Interpretation matters.

A radiation Crystal might justify light, heat, sickness, mutation, glare, or charged force. It should not casually justify freezing time unless the table has established a very specific thematic reason why.

Socketing a Crystal

Socketing is the act of removing one Crystal from a harness and inserting another.

Under safe medical or controlled Stellaris conditions, this usually requires no roll.

In a stressful or dangerous situation, such as combat, socketing requires a Healing roll.

Socketing Results

• Success: The new Crystal is inserted and synced. The bearer immediately gains its benefits and disposition. If Shaken or unconscious, they also get an immediate Vigor roll to recover from being Shaken or to regain consciousness.
• Raise: As above, and the bearer surges with power, ignoring all Fatigue and Wound penalties until the end of their next turn.
• Failure: The Crystal cannot be safely swapped yet. Another action is required.
• Critical Failure: The bearer is left with no functioning Crystal in the harness and begins suffocating, exactly as in desync.

Self-socketing is possible, but reckless. Apply -2 to the Healing roll if attempting it on yourself.

The Harness

The harness is the defining technology of a Stellaris Agent.

It is a specialized thoracic Astra-regulation implant placed in the upper chest, built around a reinforced socket and control lattice capable of housing and regulating a Crystal. It uses the Crystal as a circulatory-energy regulator and resonance core, integrating it into the bearer’s vital systems so the body can survive sustained Astra load, maintain stable function, and channel resonance safely enough for repeated use.

Without the harness, most people cannot use a Crystal with any consistency or survive long-term exposure to one.

Implantation

Harness implantation is a dangerous, multi-stage procedure performed only under tightly controlled conditions, usually at the Citadel at Freedom’s Gate.

The process takes a week of intensive care, calibration, and recovery. Not every candidate survives. Stellaris therefore performs extensive compatibility screening before approving implantation.

Once implanted, the bearer has effectively committed to a new form of existence. The harness permanently restructures the bearer’s thoracic support systems around the implanted regulation architecture. It is not designed to return the body to an ordinary baseline state, and no successful reversal is known.

Harness Maintenance

A harness is sturdy and highly reliable. Under ordinary conditions it rarely fails and requires only annual maintenance at a major Stellaris facility.

Harness Complications

Despite its sophistication, the harness is not flawless. Certain environments interfere with synchronization.

Strong Magnetic Fields

Strong magnetic fields drain Crystal performance.

• -1 to all Crystal Channeling rolls
• penalty for maintaining powers increases from -1 to -2 per power

Intense Cold

Extreme cold slows the Crystal’s response while intensifying its eventual output.

• Crystal Channeling cannot be used unless the bearer first takes a turn for Power Preparation
• that preparation grants +2 to the eventual activation roll

Radiation

Radiation interferes violently with the harness.

At the end of every turn in which the bearer performs physical activity more intense than walking at Pace, they must make a Vigor roll.

On a failure, the harness skips a beat and the bearer becomes Shaken.

Life Abundance

Some regions become unnaturally dense with living growth, biomass, fertility, and ecological aggression. Stellaris calls these zones life abundance events.

They can often be recognized from a distance by excessive plant growth, animal presence, and impossible ecological crowding.

By Agency doctrine, Agents are forbidden from entering such zones without authorization, as life abundance appears especially volatile in the presence of harnessed Crystals.

Surgical Crystal Implantation

Not every Crystal bearer is a Stellaris Agent.

In rare cases, allies or special assets may undergo surgical Crystal implantation instead of receiving a full harness. This is a dangerous, limited alternative reserved for exceptional circumstances.

The operation takes many hours and requires both:

• a successful Healing roll
• a successful Academics roll

Failure on either check kills the patient.

A Critical Failure also turns the Crystal feral.

Activating Crystals Without a Harness

Any person can touch a Crystal and try to will it into action.

This is a terrible idea.

The harness is what makes Crystal use reliable, survivable, and somewhat controllable. Without it, Crystal activation is usually one or more of the following:

• Limited: only a narrow or accidental expression of the theme emerges
• Unreliable: the bearer cannot control what happens
• Unsafe: the bearer harms themselves or others, loses sanity, triggers uncontrolled feral manifestations, or all of the above

In short: anyone can activate a Crystal. Most people simply cannot do so safely.

Feral Crystals

A Crystal not housed in a harness, approved containment unit, or stabilized body is considered feral.

A feral Crystal manifests its theme in uncontrolled ways.

These manifestations are not always predictable by Rank alone. A Heroic lightning Crystal might create only static pinpricks in one environment, while a Novice softness Crystal might turn a hillside into devouring slurry in another.

Environment matters. Local Astra conditions matter. The Crystal’s history matters.

Approach with extreme caution.

Containment Procedures

Every Stellaris Agent is normally issued two Crystal containers:

• one for the Crystal currently used in their harness
• one spare for containing a newly recovered feral Crystal

A Crystal container is a reinforced housing with a sliding lid and a gel-filled interior. The gel must be replaced periodically.

Standard Procedure

When approaching a feral Crystal, Agents should first neutralize or subdue its current manifestations if possible. That often creates a brief lull, usually around ten minutes, before the Crystal reasserts itself.

During that window, the Agents should place the Crystal into a container using gloves.

If the manifestations cannot be subdued, the Crystal may instead be forcibly calmed by being held for several seconds in:

• a container
• a harness
• someone’s hands

Crystals dislike this intensely and often react like enraged living things.

Barehanded Handling

When an Agent touches a feral Crystal with bare skin, the interaction between the socketed Crystal and the feral one creates a dangerous clash.

The Agent must make a Vigor roll or suffer 1 level of Fatigue.

On a Critical Failure, the Agent desyncs.

This roll repeats at the start of every turn until the Crystal is released or fully tamed.

Grappling a Crystal

Trying to seize or containerize a feral Crystal is treated much like grappling.

• Make an Athletics roll to grab the Crystal
• Apply -2 if attempting to force it directly into a container

On the following turn, the bearer must make a Strength roll to keep it secured:

• gain +2 if it is already partly inside a container

If the Crystal fails to escape, it calms, becomes tamed, and its manifestations disappear.

Unless gloves are worn, the bearer must continue making the Vigor checks described above throughout the process.

Ongoing Containment

A Crystal inside a proper container remains tame for about two weeks before risking feral reactivation.

Only two known methods prevent this:

• storing the Crystal in a climate-controlled, magnetically regulated safe
• placing it inside a living body through a harness or surgical implantation

Once inside a body, a Crystal does not go feral.

A useful rule of thumb is this: if a Crystal is not safely contained or inside someone, treat it like a grenade with motives.

Identifying a Crystal

Stellaris doctrine requires all newly recovered Crystals to be brought to a proper facility for diagnosis and evaluation.

Agents, of course, are curious, reckless, and often far from home.

Examination Chamber Identification

A Crystal may be identified after a few minutes of study in a Crystal Examination Chamber.

The examiner automatically learns the Crystal’s Rank.

Then make an Academics roll:

• gain +2 if the examiner has already witnessed the Crystal’s feral manifestation
• other characters may Support as normal

On a Success

The examiner learns:

• the Crystal’s benefits
• disposition
• powers

They also get to name the Crystal.

The GM provides a vague description of the theme.

On a Raise

As above, but the theme is understood clearly and directly.

On a Failure

The Crystal’s nature remains uncertain until properly diagnosed at a major Stellaris facility, where it is automatically identified as with a success.

The other option is to socket it and learn by experience.

The Hands-On Approach

An Agent may slot an unidentified Crystal into their harness and begin testing it.

Doing so immediately reveals:

• the Crystal’s Rank
• its benefits
• its disposition
• a vague intuitive impression of its theme

The bearer may then attempt any power they can justify. If they happen upon one of the Crystal’s natural powers, it activates normally. They may also attempt Power Stunts as usual by spending a Benny.

Until the Crystal is properly identified, every time the bearer fails a Crystal Channeling roll with it they must make a Spirit roll or suffer 1 level of Fatigue lasting several minutes.

If they choose to force a failed activation into success, they suffer 2 Fatigue instead.

Long-Term Identification

A socketed Crystal can be fully understood over time by living with it, meditating on it, and testing its boundaries.

Roll Spirit each morning.

After a total number of successes and raises equal to the Crystal’s Rank, the Crystal becomes fully identified.

A Critical Failure also results in full identification, but with a major misunderstanding of the theme.

In that case:

• the bearer suffers -1 to all Crystal Channeling rolls with that Crystal
• they cannot use Power Stunts with it

This lasts until they have good reason to rethink their interpretation, usually by witnessing the Crystal used properly or uncovering better research.

Using Crystals in a Campaign

Crystals are one of Astrabound’s most useful tools for both story and mechanics.

They can be:

• relic rewards
• sources of powers
• dangerous contraband
• dungeon engines
• explanations for local anomalies
• reasons governments call in Stellaris
• excuses for ruins, towns, labs, and ecosystems to behave in impossible ways

A Crystal should never feel like just loot.

It should feel like a fragment of a dead civilization’s understanding of the universe, still alive enough to want something.

Novice Crystals

Every newly fielded Stellaris Agent begins with a Novice Crystal approved for trainee and early-route deployment.

These Crystals are the ones most commonly issued to new Agents, not because they are safe, but because their behaviors are comparatively documented, their themes are stable enough to train around, and Stellaris has accumulated enough field data to classify them as survivable for beginners. Some have passed through many prior bearers. Some carry scraps of rumor, superstition, or half-redacted mission notes. A few are famous enough that even Novices hear stories about them before they ever reach the harness room.

Each player chooses one Novice Crystal for their Agent during character creation, or may roll 1d20 on the table below.

The Gamemaster may add, remove, rename, or restrict options to reflect local doctrine, campaign tone, or current Stellaris shortages.

Crystal	Rank	Theme	Disposition	Benefit	Powers
Ember Spark	Novice	Fire	Beneficial	+1 Vigor	Bolt (fire trappings), Smite
Shadow Veil	Novice	Shadow	Neutral	+1 Stealth	Invisibility, Deflection
Gravity Anchor	Novice	Gravity	Beneficial	+1 Strength	Telekinesis (weight manipulation), Entangle
Growth Bloom	Novice	Growth	Beneficial	+1 Healing	Healing, Boost Trait (growth)
Memory Echo	Novice	Memory	Neutral	+1 Notice	Detect Arcana (memories), Mind Reading
Light Beacon	Novice	Light	Beneficial	+1 Intimidation	Light (blind), Barrier
Resonance Pulse	Novice	Resonance	Neutral	+1 Repair	Sound Manipulation, Burst
Hunger Maw	Novice	Hunger	Malevolent	+1 Fighting	Drain Power Points, Fear
Silence Shroud	Novice	Silence	Neutral	+1 Stealth	Silence, Invisibility
Recursion Loop	Novice	Recursion	Malevolent	+1 Smarts	Time Stop (brief), Illusion
False Life Mirage	Novice	False Life	Malevolent	+1 Persuasion	Puppet, Disguise
Pressure Crush	Novice	Pressure	Neutral	+1 Athletics	Telekinesis (pressure), Stun
Threshold Gate	Novice	Thresholds	Beneficial	+1 Survival	Teleport (short), Detect Arcana
Electric Surge	Novice	Electric Instinct	Neutral	+1 Agility	Burst (electric), Speed
Flame Heart	Novice	Fire	Beneficial	+1 Spirit	Smite, Protection
Void Whisper	Novice	Shadow	Malevolent	+1 Intimidation	Fear, Darkness
Earth Bind	Novice	Gravity	Beneficial	+1 Vigor	Entangle, Barrier
Bloom Nurture	Novice	Growth	Beneficial	+1 Survival	Healing, Speak Language (plants)
Echo Chamber	Novice	Memory	Neutral	+1 Academics	Mind Link, Illusion
Radiant Glow	Novice	Light	Beneficial	+1 Notice	Light, Boost Trait
Harmonic Wave	Novice	Resonance	Neutral	+1 Performance	Sound Manipulation, Burst
Devour Essence	Novice	Hunger	Malevolent	+1 Fighting	Drain Trait, Fear
Quiet Tomb	Novice	Silence	Neutral	+1 Stealth	Silence, Invisibility
Infinite Cycle	Novice	Recursion	Malevolent	+1 Smarts	Time Manipulation, Illusion
Phantom Veil	Novice	False Life	Malevolent	+1 Persuasion	Puppet, Disguise
Crushing Force	Novice	Pressure	Neutral	+1 Athletics	Telekinesis, Stun
Boundary Walker	Novice	Thresholds	Beneficial	+1 Survival	Teleport, Detect Arcana
Spark Instinct	Novice	Electric Instinct	Neutral	+1 Agility	Burst, Speed

d20	Crystal
1	Brightheart
2	Quiet Wake
3	Red Waltz
4	Blind Fortune
5	Nightglass
6	Splitspark
7	Chorus
8	Faultline
9	Standard-Bearer
10	Velvet Signal
11	Trueflight
12	Echo Mind
13	Tilt
14	Centerstage
15	Golden Grasp
16	Iron Will
17	Voxburst
18	Farview
19	Redfang
20	Static Crown

Brightheart

Description: A warm yellow crystal laced with violet streaks, shaped vaguely like a swollen fruit or seed-pod. It gives off the irrational impression that everything is going to be all right.

Theme: Helpfulness elevated into instinct. Knowing the right word, showing up at the right time, throwing yourself fully into the work of helping others succeed.

Benefit: You gain the Reliable Edge. When you Support an ally, they gain +2 on a success and +3 on a raise instead of the usual bonuses. On a failure, however, they subtract 3 instead of 2.

Disposition: Delusional (Major). You believe, deep down, that everyone means well. Even the cruel, the corrupt, and the openly monstrous are just misunderstood people waiting for the right kindness to bring out their better nature.

Let’s Do This!

boost Trait, Ongoing, -1

You increase your helpfulness to absurd levels, becoming intensely, almost recklessly focused on a specific task.

Choose a Trait. Both you and one teammate within a distance of your Smarts increase that Trait’s die type by one step. On a raise, both increase it by two die steps instead.

While active, after every ten minutes of sustained activity, or whenever you draw a Heart in combat, you must make a Spirit roll or suffer 1 Fatigue. If neither of you uses the chosen Trait during a round, the power ends.

On My Way!

teleport, -1

When someone truly needs you, you arrive.

If a friend is faced with a task they cannot accomplish alone and genuinely calls for your help, you sense it regardless of distance and may activate this power to appear next to them. On a raise, you also arrive with an appropriate tool, provided it was reasonably within your reach before teleporting.

Your friends may spend a Benny to force you to activate this power as a free action, even if you are unconscious.

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Quiet Wake

Description: A thin, elongated spheroid of pale pink-white crystal, smooth and almost delicate in appearance.

Theme: Mental vibration, awareness, and pressure on the conscious mind. You sense thought as disturbance, awareness as motion, wakefulness as resonance.

Benefit: You gain the Combat Reflexes Edge.

Disposition: Thin Skinned (Minor). Words, scorn, and emotional hostility hit you harder than they should.

Awaken

relief, -1

You force a target’s mind back into full wakefulness, removing Shaken. This cannot remove physical Fatigue caused by things like poison, suffocation, or dehydration.

Detect Consciousness

detect arcana, Ongoing, -1

You sense the presence of all conscious awareness in range, even through walls or earth. You can tell the approximate size or intensity of a mind, allowing you to distinguish between things like a dog, a person, or a large clustered intelligence. With a raise, you may identify specific people you have previously interacted with.

Crystals can also be detected with this power.

Lull

slumber, -1

You send a disruptive pulse across the mental plane, trying to mute a target’s awareness and force it toward sleep.

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Red Waltz

Description: Pink crystal swirled with red, elegant and fluid in shape, as though frozen mid-spin.

Theme: Grace, lethal motion, precision in movement, and beauty in execution.

Benefit: You are Quick.

Disposition: Jealous (Minor). It is difficult for you to tolerate someone outperforming you in your chosen arena.

Graceful Dance

boost Trait (Fighting and Performance), Ongoing, -2

Self only. While active, you move in a continuous dance-like flow, enhancing both artistry and combat ability. This constant motion may interfere with delicate or stationary tasks.

In the Zone

warrior’s gift, Ongoing, -2

Self only. You gain Acrobat, and with a raise, Combat Acrobat. You also gain Berserk, which activates after becoming Shaken for any reason.

While active, idle chatter becomes intolerable. You instinctively hush anyone speaking frivolously around you.

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Blind Fortune

Description: A flat blue crystal marked with turquoise spikes. Senior Agents often mock it until they survive something impossible because of it.

Theme: Luck as chaotic flow. Falling the right way, guessing correctly for no good reason, surviving through absurd coincidence.

Benefit: The Dumb Luck Setting Rule applies to you even if it is not otherwise in use. You only need +3 over the target number for a raise instead of +4. However, you suffer a Critical Failure on a 1 and 2, not just snake eyes.

Disposition: Bad Luck.

Contagious Bad Luck

lower Trait (Athletics, Fighting, or Shooting), -1

The target is not less capable, merely overwhelmed by improbable interruptions, bad timing, and micro-disasters. Allowed Modifiers: All.

Missed Me

deflection, Ongoing, -2

Self only. You avoid attacks by the most ridiculous of margins, slipping, tripping, or falling in just the right way.

While active, if you move more than half your Pace, make an Agility roll or fall prone.

---

Nightglass

Description: A glossy black crystal with mirror-like reflective planes, reminiscent of abstract sculpture. It was first recovered by the famed Agent Contessa.

Theme: Manipulation of brightness and shadow. Increasing light, dimming it, hiding in it, weaponizing it.

Benefit: Ignore up to 2 points of Illumination penalties from darkness.

Disposition: Habit (Minor). You are prone to saying things that sound insightful but are mostly empty pseudo-wisdom.

Control Brightness

light/darkness, -1

You control the local intensity of light, and you may always see through darkness created by this power.

Darksight

darksight, Ongoing, -1

Self only. You become adapted to darkness, ignoring penalties from darkness as normal for the power. Bright light now inflicts a -2 Illumination penalty on you, or -4 with a raise.

Lights Out

blind, -1

You either wrap a target’s head in darkness or flash intense light into their vision.

---

Splitspark

Description: A small crystal, half yellow and half gray. It was common in early Stellaris deployments, and there are more surviving reports on it than on many other Novice Crystals.

Theme: Inspiration and impulse. Cleverness and foolish boldness, alternating unpredictably.

Benefit: This Crystal always exists in one of two states.

While Clever, increase your Smarts by one die step and reduce your Spirit by one die step. You also gain Jack-of-all-Trades.

As a free action, you may switch the Crystal off being Clever, becoming Emboldened instead. This increases your Spirit by one die step and reduces your Smarts by one die step. You also gain Strong Willed.

Once switched, you cannot switch back for several hours.

Disposition:
While Clever, you have Obligation (Minor), constantly writing down ideas, notes, sketches, fragments, and theories.
While Emboldened, you are Stubborn (Minor).

Clever Solution

warrior’s gift, -2

Self only. Only while Clever. You devise a fresh, unlikely, and surprisingly functional solution to the current problem.

Emboldened Action

speed, -3

Self only. Only while Emboldened. Always activated with the Quickness Modifier. You are so certain of yourself that you move fast and act faster.

---

Chorus

Description: Thin, twirled, and multicolored, with the visual rhythm of a note frozen in crystal.

Theme: Music, repetition, catchy thought, and contagious rhythm.

Benefit: Your Performance skill increases by one die step, and you may use Performance to Test against Smarts.

Disposition: Habit (Minor) inflicting -1 on social interactions. You are annoying in a way that is oddly difficult to ignore. In addition, whenever you draw a Heart, make a Spirit roll or become Distracted as a looping tune overtakes your thoughts.

Earworm

confusion, -1

You infect a target with an intrusive jingle they cannot stop thinking about. It affects mammalian minds other than swarms.

At the beginning of the target’s turn, every enemy within 5" must make a Smarts roll or suffer the same effect, at -2 if you got a raise on the original activation. The original victim can even be reinfected.

When first activating this power, you must roll Smarts yourself or catch the earworm and become infectious to your allies.

A Little Dance Number

deflection and relief, -2

You let the rhythm take over and perform a small but impossibly inspiring dance routine.

All allies who can see you may remove Shaken, or Stunned with a raise, and ignore penalties from Fatigue, or Exhausted with a raise, while you keep dancing. You may continue dancing each turn as an action with no additional roll. While dancing, you benefit from deflection thanks to your footwork.

If you fail the activation roll, you cannot choose to force success with Fatigue. That tune just was not the right one.

---

Faultline

Description: Brown-gray, lumpy, and misshapen. Some theorists insist it is a fused shard from two separate Crystals, which official Stellaris doctrine still considers impossible.

Theme: Understanding mechanisms, diagnosing failure, and recognizing systems whether biological or artificial.

Benefit: You gain the Mr. Fix It Edge.

Disposition: Quirk. You occasionally confuse people for machines and machines for people, at least in how you talk about them.

Find Weakness

boost Trait (Notice), Ongoing, -1

Self only. You instinctively identify faults and weak points. You deal +2 damage to objects.

If you make a Notice Test against a creature and make them Vulnerable, you also identify a weak point and may ignore 1 point of Called Shot penalty against them.

While active, your focus narrows so sharply that all sounds seem distant. You are Hard of Hearing (Minor).

Fix It Up

healing, -2

Can be used on both machines and living creatures. You must have appropriate tools, such as a first aid kit or work tools, and the process takes five minutes per point of Size. If repairing a machine larger than Size 0, apply its Size as a penalty to the roll.

Work Mode

boost Trait (Engineering and Healing), Ongoing, -1

Self only. You become deeply attuned to whatever system you are working on. While active, you lose the ability to meaningfully distinguish between people and machinery, treating both as mechanisms to diagnose and repair.

---

Standard-Bearer

Description: A bright orange crystal formed from three squat spheres fused together under a black crust.

Theme: Leadership, courage, rallying others, and becoming the point others gather around.

Benefit: You gain the Command Edge.

Disposition: Loyal.

Behind Me!

deflection, -2

You may only activate this power if Command Mode is already active.

Your force of personality and fearless presence shield you and nearby allies from harm. Allowed Modifier: Additional Recipients.

Command Mode

boost Trait (Battle), Ongoing, -1

Self only. You step into leadership with unmistakable force. You gain the Inspire Edge.

While active, you must keep pushing forward, taking point, or leading by example. If you stop doing so for any reason, the power ends.

Maintaining this power does not impose the normal -1 penalty on Crystal Channeling rolls.

Encouraging Word

relief, -1

You may only activate this power if Command Mode is already active.

You speak a brief word of encouragement that pulls an ally back into action. Allowed Modifier: Additional Recipients.

---

Velvet Signal

Description: A tantalizing, swirling turquoise wisp. Following a notorious scandal involving two Heroics and several administrators, this Crystal is no longer permitted at Stellaris social functions.

Theme: Body language, social fluency, subtle suggestion, and reading intention through posture and motion.

Benefit: You gain the Charismatic Edge.

Disposition: Quirk. You are incorrigibly flirtatious and sometimes need to be physically removed from conversations so the mission can continue.

Body Language Literacy

empathy, -1

You attune to a specific individual’s body language, rolling Crystal Channeling against the target’s Smarts. This does not work on animals.

Conflicting Signals

confusion, -1

Can only be used on a target currently affected by Body Language Literacy. You express two contradictory meanings at once, leaving the target uncertain and momentarily confused.

Deep Meaning

mind link, Ongoing, -1

You connect with another person at a very basic communicative level, allowing enormous amounts of meaning to be conveyed through tiny gestures. You must be able to see one another.

Suffering a Wound does not endanger the linked ally. While active, speaking normally becomes difficult and you are Tongue-Tied. Allowed Modifier: Additional Recipients.

Disparaging Expression

lower Trait (Spirit), -1

You convey profound contempt through a small gesture, causing the target to doubt themselves without consciously understanding why. Allowed Modifier: Strong.

---

Trueflight

Description: Bronze, sleek, and visibly cracked. It was once recovered from inside a fish that was, by all accounts, far too hard to catch.

Theme: Ranged precision, perfect trajectory, trick shots, and impossible angles.

Benefit: You gain Steady Hands.

Disposition: Quirk. You cannot stop throwing things at other things to see if you can hit them.

Ricochet Mode

boost Trait (Shooting and Athletics [throwing]), Ongoing, -2

Self only. Your ranged attacks can ricochet from walls, ceilings, and hard surfaces. Your attacks ignore Cover.

While active, your intense focus on ranged combat reduces your Fighting die by one step, or to d4-1 if already d4, reducing your Parry by 1.

True Aim

boost Trait (Notice), -1

Self only, current turn only.

If all you do on your turn is activate this power, Aim, and make a single ranged attack, the Aim applies normally and you do not suffer the Multi-Action penalty.

If the activation fails, you still Aim and attack, but suffer the full -4 Multi-Action penalty, effectively negating the Aim.

---

Echo Mind

Description: Yellow and thin, shaped like an hourglass. Once named for the ruin where it was found, it was eventually renamed after being lost, recovered, and reclassified.

Theme: Surface thought, mental resonance, and picking up signals from conscious minds like an antenna.

Benefit: You gain the Charismatic Edge.

Disposition: You are easily overwhelmed by constant flickers of other minds, suffering -2 to Notice rolls.

Deep Connection

empathy, -1

You focus on one person’s surface thoughts. This power is resisted with Notice instead of Spirit if they are paying attention to your strange behavior, such as staring at them too intently or mouthing their words slightly as they speak.

If they begin to suspect you are using a power on them, the effect ends immediately.

Mental Antenna

mind reading, -1

You attune yourself to another mind and receive thoughts without the target being aware. On a raise, gain either a second truthful answer or additional detail.

Mental Vortex

divination, -3

You open yourself to a flood of thought, memory, and psychic residue, perhaps even impressions from the dead. After sitting quietly for five minutes, you sift through the noise for useful information.

---

Tilt

Description: Sharp orange crystal, triangular and unnervingly stable. When placed on a surface, it remains exactly as positioned.

Theme: Personal gravity, altered orientation, and the idea that up and down are negotiable.

Benefit: You may walk and run on walls at up to a 90-degree angle as if they were level ground. You may even make short jumps while staying aligned to the surface. If you lose contact for more than a turn, you realign with normal gravity.

Disposition: You are prone to disorientation. Whenever you draw a Heart in combat, make an Agility roll or fall prone.

Deflection

deflection, Ongoing, -2

Self only. You convince incoming projectiles that gravity should push them away from you.

Maintaining this power requires real concentration, inflicting a -1 penalty on all actions, not just Crystal Channeling rolls.

Walk Over Everything

wall walker, Ongoing, -1

Self only. You extend the Crystal’s natural effect to all solid surfaces, whatever their angle. With a success, you may walk on walls, ceilings, ropes, or even your teammates. With a raise, you may also run.

You do not become lighter or more agile, so balance and weight still matter. While active, suffer a -1 penalty on all Agility and Agility-based skill rolls.

---

Centerstage

Description: Broad, purple-pink, and eruptive in form. It was once famously used by a popular Maseian singer who later turned out not to be a singer at all, but a nest of bees.

Theme: Presence, social impact, dramatic attention, and becoming the point all eyes turn toward.

Benefit: Whenever you make a social skill roll, draw a card. If you draw a Heart, you deliver your intent with such explosive force that your opposition becomes Distracted for a few moments.

Disposition: Mean. Not from cruelty, but from poor timing, missed cues, and a social manner that only works in bursts.

All Eyes on Me!

boost Trait (Taunt), -1

You become impossible to ignore. Gain the Humiliate, Provoke, and Rabble-Rouser Edges until the end of your next turn.

Hear Me!

boost Trait (Intimidation), -1

Self only. You ready yourself to deliver a threat, lecture, or warning with overwhelming force. Gain Menacing and Strong Willed until the end of your next turn.

Lend Me Your Ear!

boost Trait (Persuasion and Performance), -1

Self only. You ready yourself to deliver a compelling argument or captivating performance. Gain Charismatic and Work the Room until the end of your next turn.

---

Golden Grasp

Description: Golden and tangled, like thick strands tied into a dense knot.

Theme: Arms, strength, grasping, lifting, climbing, and solving problems with direct physical handling.

Benefit: Increase your Strength die by one step.

Disposition: Overconfident. You are convinced that with enough hands and enough force, anything is manageable.

Arm Yourself

warrior’s gift, Ongoing, -2 per arm

Golden spectral arms emerge from your shoulders and torso, phasing through clothing and armor. You may create a number of extra arms equal to up to half your Spirit.

Each extra arm receives its own action, separate from your normal actions. You gain Two-Fisted, applying to all extra hands. They are all Off-Hands unless you got a raise, in which case you also gain Ambidextrous.

While active, any task not done directly with your hands suffers -1 per extra arm.

Armed and Dangerous

smite, Ongoing, -1

You infuse your arms and any melee weapon you are holding with golden force. While active, you also gain Martial Artist, and your arms leave shimmering aftertrails.

Whenever you have a quiet moment alone while this power is active, you instinctively flex.

Grab Tight

wall walker, Ongoing, -1

Golden arms emerge from your torso and grip sheer surfaces, allowing you to cling and climb. The power ends automatically when they no longer have a surface to hold.

---

Iron Will

Description: Deep blue and boxy. A favorite of Agents who have heard too many stories about Novice mortality rates.

Theme: Endurance, resilience, survival, and the refusal to yield.

Benefit: Increase your Vigor die by one step.

Disposition: Stubborn.

Enhanced Constitution

boost Trait (Vigor), Ongoing, -1

Self only. Blue protective force saturates your body. While active, you also gain Suspicious as a Minor Hindrance, or Major with a raise.

Fortified

protection, Ongoing, -1

Self only. A tight deep-blue force field surrounds you and stacks with worn armor. While active, you are Overconfident. Allowed Modifier: More Armor.

Survive Anything

environmental protection, -1

Self only. A thick force field shields you from environmental hazards, sustains your temperature, and protects your breath.

---

Voxburst

Description: Dark green with a twisted upper taper and a swollen, glowing center when charged.

Theme: Words as force, speech as ammunition, language as a projectile weapon.

Benefit: Increase your Taunt die by one step and gain the Humiliate Edge.

Most powers from this Crystal require and consume charges, representing stored speech. Charges are accumulated through Siphon Words. You may store up to 3 charges. It is usually assumed you begin each adventure with 3 charges.

Disposition: Big Mouth. You speak too much, too broadly, and with more physical emphasis than the situation usually warrants.

Command

puppet, -2

You deliver a sharp command so forcefully that, if the target fails its opposed Spirit roll, it must obey. Commands to harm self or allies are automatically ignored.

The duration is Instant. The command must be a single short sentence, and the target attempts to obey on its next turn.

You may continue giving commands to the same target on later turns, once per round as an action, without further Crystal Channeling rolls and without further chances to resist. If you skip a round, the effect ends.

Each command, including the first, consumes 1 charge. On a raise, the first command is free.

Insult Mode

boost Trait (Taunt), -1

You release a flood of verbal assault. Gain Rabble-Rouser, but it affects everyone, not just enemies. To activate this power you must have at least one charge, and it consumes 1 charge every three turns.

Siphon Words

silence, Ongoing, -1

You reduce speech within a Large Blast Template centered on you to a whisper, or with a raise, all sounds.

While active, you are effectively Tongue-Tied instead of Big Mouth. For every 20 minutes spent in this silence, you gain 1 charge, up to a maximum of 3. If you suppress an actual conversation during that time, halve the required duration.

---

Farview

Description: Small, flat, and coin-like, with a bronze tint. Farview users and Trueflight users are known to mock one another on principle.

Theme: Extreme visual acuity, fine detail, range, precision observation.

Benefit: You gain the Alertness Edge.

Disposition: Quirk. You are unusually self-conscious about your appearance and spend more time grooming than most.

Focus Mode

boost Trait (Shooting and Notice), Ongoing, -2

Self only. While active, you instinctively view the world as if aiming, sighting, or lining up a shot. One eye may remain closed and your face settles into intense concentration.

Telescope

farsight, -1

Self only. You push your eyesight to absurd distances, but only briefly. The effect lasts until the end of your turn.

---

Redfang

Description: Angry red and visibly tense, as though the crystal itself resents being held. It was recovered from a reclusive Bogovian family line.

Theme: Predatory instinct, scent, feral aggression, and the werewolf-shaped idea of violence.

Benefit: Increase your Strength die by one step.

Disposition: Bloodthirsty. Dead enemies are the best enemies.

Go Feral

boost Trait (Fighting), Ongoing, -1

Self only. You gain Berserk, and it activates immediately. You also gain Martial Artist, and your fingers become claw-like enough to grant +2 to climbing rolls.

This power ends when your Berserk state ends. Ending it voluntarily requires a Smarts roll at -2. While active, you constantly growl, snarl, or breathe like something trying not to bite.

Sniff

boost Trait, Ongoing, -1

Self only. You gain +2 to Notice rolls involving smell, but suffer -2 to Notice rolls involving sight.

---

Static Crown

Description: Spiked yellow-and-blue crystal, sharp enough in shape to look dangerous even inert.

Theme: Voltage spikes, nerve jolts, and sudden bursts in existing electromagnetic fields.

Benefit: You gain the Quick Edge.

Disposition: Habit (Minor). You are constantly jittery, speak too fast, and move like your thoughts are outrunning your body.

Jolt

confusion, -1

You send a sudden spike through a target’s nervous system. On a Critical Failure, you are not only desynced but also Stunned, as your own nervous system takes the backlash.

Sense Electricity

detect arcana, Ongoing, -1

You sense electrical currents in the environment, allowing you to perceive living creatures, metal masses, active systems, and even weather patterns.

While active, you must keep your eyes closed and are therefore Blind.

Seasoned Crystals

Starting characters may spend 1 Requisition to begin play with one of the following Seasoned Crystals instead of a Novice Crystal.

These Crystals are stronger, stranger, and generally less forgiving than those normally issued to first-route Agents. Stellaris does authorize their use, but only when the Agency believes a Seeker team can survive the risks involved or when a particular crystal has proven unusually compatible with a bearer.

Some Seasoned Crystals are well documented. Others remain on the authorized list mostly because enough Agents have survived them to make training materials possible.

Each player may choose one of the following Seasoned Crystals if allowed by the Gamemaster.

The Gamemaster may add, remove, rename, or restrict options to fit local doctrine, campaign tone, or the current needs of the mission.

Bubble

Description: A round, pink, almost translucent crystal. It was first recovered washed ashore in the Islands, and to this day some Stellaris handlers insist it behaves more like a playful sea thing than a relic.

Theme: Bubbles, spheres, buoyancy, containment, and airy translucent barriers. You create bubbles on or around your body, around objects, or around other people.

Benefit: You can create a small, hard bubble in your hand as a free action and without a roll. You are instinctively good at throwing it, gaining +2 to Athletics when doing so. The bubble deals Strength damage and has a range of 3/6/12. Bubbles last several seconds, roughly one round, though you may concentrate to keep a number of bubbles in existence up to your Spirit. This counts as maintaining powers. Bubbles have Hardness 5.

Left unattended, your bubbles have a strange tendency to become slightly buoyant, hovering an inch or so above whatever surface they were created near.

Disposition: Curious. You become bubbly, impulsive, whimsical, and prone to poking at things just to see what happens.

Bubble

protection, -2

You touch a target and cover them in a translucent bubble. This version always activates with the More Armor Modifier.

The bubble dissipates when you stop maintaining the power or when an attack manages to break through it by surpassing the target’s Toughness or the bubble’s Hardness.

While active, the target cannot touch anything outside the bubble. The bubble is air-tight, granting a basic form of environmental protection against the outside atmosphere, but after five minutes the target begins suffocating.

If the target is unwilling, they may resist with Spirit. They may also attack the bubble itself, which has Hardness 5, if they want to break out.

Allowed Modifier: Additional Recipients.

For an additional -2 penalty, you may reduce everything inside the bubble to one-tenth its normal weight.

---

Faster

Description: A smooth green crystal shaped like a perfect cube.

Theme: Speed, momentum, reflex, buzzing movement, and never being still long enough for the world to catch up.

Benefit: You gain the Quick and Fleet-Footed Edges.

Disposition: You are Hard of Hearing (Minor) because of the constant background buzzing in your senses. You are also in constant motion, tapping, pacing, shifting, or vibrating with energy, which functions as a Habit (Minor) and can frustrate other people.

Quick Instincts

deflection, Ongoing, -2

Self only. You respond instantly to danger, constantly dodging, crouching, weaving, and rolling before conscious thought can catch up.

Quicker

speed, -1

Self only. You become even faster than usual.

Allowed Modifier: Quickness.

---

Fireball

Description: A bright orange sphere. It is not subtle, elegant, or especially sophisticated, but nobody disputes that it works.

Theme: Sudden bursts of fire, launched flame, combustion, eruption, and raw destructive release.

Benefit: You gain the No Mercy Edge.

Disposition: You are prone to sudden emotional eruptions. Whenever you fail a Spirit roll, or whenever you draw a Heart in combat, an unexpected emotion seizes you for a moment. Roll a die: on an odd result, the emotion is inappropriate to the situation; on an even result, it fits the moment entirely too well.

Fireball

blast, -2

You bring your hands together and launch a concentrated fireball.

Allowed Modifiers: All.

Fire Bolt

bolt, -1

You launch a bolt of flame from the palm of your hand with a range of 12/24/48.

Allowed Modifier: Damage.

---

Hard Shadow

Description: A blue, thin, drop-shaped crystal.

Theme: Corporeal shadow, hardened silhouette, distance manipulation through projected darkness, and turning absence of light into physical leverage.

Benefit: You may use your skills at a distance anywhere your shadow falls. Actions that require delicate manipulation are made at -1 and take twice as long. You must still be able to see what you are doing. If something larger than you completely covers your shadow, then you are effectively casting no usable shadow at all.

Disposition: Mean. Nuance and tact become difficult for you. You also develop a Phobia (Minor) of complete darkness, because in total darkness there are no shadows to command.

Shadow Strike

bolt, -1

You stretch and harden part of your shadow, putting all of your Crystal’s weight behind it in a sudden strike.

Range and Cover do not apply, but Illumination penalties apply as normal and also affect your damage roll.

Allowed Modifier: Damage.

Shadow Wall

barrier, Ongoing, -1

You harden your shadow, peeling it from the surface it lies across and stretching it into a thick, three-dimensional barrier.

Allowed Modifiers: Hardened, Shaped, Size.

---

Infuse

Description: A dark green crystal, root-like in structure and strangely soft to the touch. It was recovered from a grove protected by animated trees on Zingama.

Theme: Uninhibited life energy, growth, healing, overgrowth, vitality, and the dangerous excess of living force.

Benefit: You gain the Fast Healer and Healer Edges.

Disposition: Quirk. You are boisterous, loud, and over-energized. If a task takes too long, you quickly lose interest, suffering -1 on such tasks, including most Research rolls.

Entangle

entangle, -1

You flood nearby plant life with raw vitality, causing vines, leaves, roots, and branches to grow uncontrollably around a target or area.

Allowed Modifiers: All.

Infuse Health

healing, -2

You direct pure life energy into the patient.

Every raise heals a Wound, not just the first one.

Allowed Modifiers: All except Neutralize Poison or Disease, since the Crystal does not meaningfully distinguish between the life of the patient and that of an infection.

Unleash

havoc, -1

You release the Crystal’s energy into every living thing nearby.

Use either a Medium Blast Template centered on you or a Cone Template emanating from you. Every affected living target, including you, is forced to jump, run, twitch, or spasm in a random direction. Roll 1d12 and read the result like a clock face to determine the direction.

You are affected as well, but gain +2 to resist.

If enough vegetation is present, this power may also turn the area into Difficult Ground.

Allowed Modifiers: All.

---

Translucent

Description: A clear, glassy lump that can be hard to notice until the light catches it just right.

Theme: Letting things pass through you, slipping past attention, negating impact, and becoming the sort of target the world fails to properly connect with.

Benefit: Even when something hits you, it rarely lands as hard as intended. Increase your Vigor die by one step, and you gain the Combat Reflexes Edge.

Disposition: It is difficult to get and keep your attention. Words occasionally seem to pass through one ear and out into space. You suffer -2 to Notice when someone is addressing you directly and -2 to Athletics to catch things thrown at you.

Disappear

invisibility, Ongoing, -3

By focusing intensely, you let attention slide off you even when someone is looking directly your way. Their gaze simply skips over you.

While active, you cannot draw attention to yourself even if you want to, and you are Mute.

Transparency Mode

intangibility, Ongoing, -3

You become immune to physical attacks aimed directly at you. They simply pass through.

This includes area attacks and many hazards, so long as it was not you who deliberately placed yourself in danger. A falling ceiling might pass harmlessly through you, but if you walk into a poisonous swamp, that is your own fault and the power does not protect you.

If you attack someone, any immediate retaliation from them is fair game. Watch especially for enemies on Hold.

While active, your personality also becomes transparent. You gain Big Mouth and a Habit (Minor) of blurting out your thoughts with uncomfortable honesty.

Creating New Crystals

Gamemasters may want to create entirely new Crystals for their campaigns, and experienced players may eventually want to design original Novice Crystals for starting characters. There is no single correct place to begin.

Sometimes a Crystal starts with a strong theme and you work outward from there, looking for benefits, powers, and dispositions that express it cleanly. Other times you begin with a power, image, or mechanic that feels exciting and then work backward until you understand what kind of Crystal could naturally produce it.

Either approach is valid.

Crystals benefit from iteration. The first draft should be treated as a test version, not a sacred one. If something feels awkward in play, revise it. Crystal design improves through use.

Legendary Crystals

Legendary Crystals do not follow the same assumptions as other Crystals.

Canonically, only a tiny number of Legendary Crystals are known to exist, and they should be treated as singular artifacts tied directly to major stories, powerful factions, or campaign-defining figures. If you create one, do so because the campaign needs a legendary artifact, not because a player simply wants a stronger option.

A Legendary Crystal should function primarily as a narrative device. Give it the powers, reach, and significance the story demands.

Similar Crystals

As far as Stellaris knows, each known Crystal is unique.

That does not mean every new Crystal must have a wildly original concept. It is perfectly acceptable to design Crystals with themes adjacent to existing ones, especially if they express that idea through different benefits, powers, and dispositions.

Two Crystals can both involve shadow, fire, memory, gravity, sound, or motion without feeling redundant if their actual expression is meaningfully different.

Start with a Clear Theme

The most important first step is defining the Crystal’s theme.

Try to describe it in a single concise sentence. The best themes are not broad categories, but specific expressions of an idea.

Broad themes tend to create vague and unfocused Crystals. Specific themes tend to create strong identity.

For example:

• Too broad: “a lot of fire”
• Better: “igniting things with a sudden spark”
• Too broad: “teleportation”
• Better: “appearing exactly where a friend needs you”

If your description begins with “it lets you...” then you are probably describing a benefit or a power rather than the theme itself. In that case, finish defining that effect first, then step back and ask what deeper concept connects it.

A good theme should tell you not only what the Crystal does, but how it tends to do it.

Theme and Rank

A Crystal’s theme interacts with its Rank.

During design, you may discover that a theme fits a different Rank than the one you originally intended, or that it needs to be narrowed, sharpened, or partially redefined in order to work at that Rank.

In most cases, Rank is the stronger structural constraint. You will usually know whether you want a Novice, Seasoned, Veteran, or Heroic Crystal before you know exactly how its theme should be phrased. If that happens, be willing to adjust the theme.

Almost any theme can be narrowed into a more manageable aspect or expanded into a stronger expression if needed.

Translating Theme into Effects

Once you know the theme, start translating it into mechanics.

Look through available Edges, powers, and useful passive effects, then build a shortlist of anything that feels plausibly connected to the Crystal’s core idea. From there, choose the effects that feel the most natural, the most evocative, and the most fun to use.

Most importantly, customize them.

A Crystal should rarely use a power exactly as printed. Trappings come first. A power should feel like an expression of the theme, not a generic rules packet. This may mean narrowing its use, restricting its allowed Modifiers, forcing a built-in drawback, or changing how it manifests visually and narratively.

That kind of narrowing is usually a strength, not a weakness.

A focused power preserves identity. A restricted power pushes players toward creativity. A Crystal should feel like a distinct artifact with personality, not a loose grab-bag of magical options.

Ongoing Powers

As a rule of thumb, if a power has a duration and no target is actively resisting it, it is probably best treated as Ongoing.

This helps Crystals feel sustained, intentional, and personal rather than fire-and-forget in situations where the bearer is clearly maintaining the effect through continued synchronization.

Powers Are Not the Whole Theme

A Crystal’s listed powers are not the full extent of its theme.

They are simply the easiest, most stable, and most natural expressions available to a trained bearer. Other possible expressions may still exist, but require improvisation, special circumstances, or a Power Stunt.

This is important for both flavor and balance.

It lets a Crystal feel larger than its printed mechanics while still limiting direct access to overly versatile effects. A player may still attempt something unusual through a Power Stunt, but they must spend a Benny and work within the logic of the theme.

Avoiding Overpowered Effects

A Crystal becomes overpowered when it gives the bearer too much control over the game relative to its Rank, especially through versatility.

A Novice Crystal should not casually solve every problem. It should not grant broad unrestricted teleportation, universal mind control, or permanent battlefield dominance. If a powerful effect is present at a lower Rank, it should be tightly constrained by triggers, range, duration, cost, or narrative conditions.

While Astrabound does not directly use power Rank the same way some source systems do, it is still a useful design guideline. Higher-impact powers tend to need more customization when assigned to a lower-Rank Crystal.

Creating Benefits

A Crystal’s benefit is often its most important mechanical element.

It is always active, usually always visible in play, and often becomes the clearest expression of the Crystal in the player’s mind. For many characters, the benefit is what defines how the Crystal feels moment to moment.

Most benefits take one of the following forms:

• an Edge
• a Trait die increase
• a constant passive capability
• a persistent physical or sensory alteration
• a foundational effect that other powers build upon

The benefit should usually reflect the most basic thing the bearer can do with the Crystal. It should feel close, immediate, and instinctive. If the effect starts becoming broad, flexible, or tactically elaborate, it may belong in the Crystal’s powers instead.

Benefit Budget

As a general design guideline, assume a Crystal gets a number of positive points roughly equal to its Rank, plus one or two more depending on how focused or narrow the overall design is.

Most of these points will be expressed through Edges, Trait increases, or occasionally positive racial-style abilities.

If a Crystal’s benefit is especially strong, broad, or versatile, balance that by reducing the number of powers, increasing the severity of the disposition, or narrowing the use of those powers.

If a Crystal’s benefit is niche or quiet, you can compensate by giving it stronger or more flexible powers.

How Many Powers?

Keep the total number of powers manageable.

As a general guideline:

• Novice and Seasoned Crystals should usually have no more than three powers
• Their total power cost should usually land around 6 Power Points worth of effects
• Veteran Crystals may have four powers and a total closer to 8 Power Points worth of effects
• Heroic Crystals can exceed those limits when appropriate

These are not hard laws, but they are useful design guardrails.

They help preserve pacing at the table, keep Crystals readable, and reduce the chance of a single artifact becoming a bloated answer to every situation.

The number of powers should also reflect the strength of the benefit. If the benefit is narrow, niche, or mostly passive, the Crystal may need an additional power or two to feel complete. If the benefit is already doing a great deal of work, fewer powers may be the better choice.

Creating Dispositions

Every Crystal should have a disposition.

Disposition is where the theme pushes back.

Start by asking what the Crystal’s nature would do to a person over time. What instinct would it exaggerate? What fixation would it create? What emotional, behavioral, or physical cost would naturally emerge from its constant presence?

Sometimes the answer is obvious.

A Crystal that lets you pass through walls might make you Curious, invasive, or unable to respect boundaries. A Crystal tied to speed might create restlessness, twitching, or sensory strain. A Crystal tied to life might create overexcitement, emotional intensity, or an inability to leave things alone.

Dispositions may be psychological, social, or physical. They may take the form of:

• Hindrances
• negative racial-style abilities
• altered habits
• distorted priorities
• worldview shifts
• involuntary physical side effects

Disposition by Rank

As a general guideline:

• Novice Crystals usually impose one Minor Hindrance
• Seasoned Crystals usually impose one Major Hindrance
• Veteran and Heroic Crystals often impose three or four points worth of drawbacks, preferably using Major Hindrances when possible

Keep the total number of Hindrances reasonably low. A Crystal is usually easier and more memorable in play when its disposition is sharp and concentrated rather than spread across too many separate penalties.

Disposition Ideas

A Crystal’s disposition might:

• make your hands, eyes, or limbs twitch regularly
• exaggerate a cognitive bias, such as confirmation bias, negativity bias, or stereotyping
• alter your speech, making you mumble, speak too loudly, over-explain, or try to rhyme
• warp your priorities, making you fixate on rest, birds, windows, sharp objects, symmetry, or anything else linked to the theme
• shift your worldview, making you see wonder everywhere, distrust everyone, or assume events follow hidden patterns

A strong disposition should make the Crystal feel alive in roleplay, not just costly on the sheet.

Be Flexible

The first few sessions with a new Crystal should be treated as a playtest.

A design that looks exciting on paper may feel clumsy, disconnected, too broad, too weak, or strangely flat once it enters actual play. Sometimes the powers do not form a coherent identity. Sometimes the Crystal technically works, but lacks personality. Sometimes the design includes too many powers that never actually matter.

That is normal.

When adjusting a Crystal after play, try these fixes first:

• make powers more specific
• reduce the number of powers
• narrow the valid targets
• shorten the range
• add a drawback to an Ongoing power
• sharpen the theme so the effects feel more connected

If the Crystal still feels too broad or too effective, increase its Rank or retire it from starting play.

There are always exceptions. Any Crystal is allowed to break these design habits if the story, the campaign, or the artifact’s history justifies it. Even Stellaris does not fully understand how Crystals work.

Novice or Seasoned?

Novice and Seasoned Crystals can look similar at first glance, especially when both are built around a focused theme.

A useful question is this:

Can this Crystal be the character’s main thing?

If the answer is no, it is probably a Novice Crystal.

Novice Crystals usually support, enhance, or sharpen abilities the Agent already has. They help a character do what they do better.

If the answer is yes, it may be a Seasoned Crystal.

Seasoned Crystals often grant a more assertive or defining capability: something that can become a major combat option, a signature tactic, or a primary problem-solving tool.

Crystal Notes for the Setting

Crystals are ancient.

They have been embedded in the galaxy longer than anyone alive can remember. The Celestar used them for many purposes, and over the ages they have been buried in ruins, left in old facilities, swallowed by wilderness, and forgotten inside dead machines. Many have influenced their surroundings for centuries.

Crystals are also new.

Not in existence, but in understanding. Modern controlled use of Crystals is still young. A Seeker may be the first person in generations, or ever, to truly master a newly recovered Crystal. Many Crystals have never been properly studied. Many have never even been named.

Stellaris is the foremost authority on Crystal handling, and even they have only been working from organized doctrine for a comparatively short span of history. Others may use Crystals, but without training, a harness, or proper containment it is often more accurate to say the Crystal is using them.

Crystals and the Supernatural

Nearly every impossible phenomenon in the setting can be traced, directly or indirectly, to a Crystal.

If a town is haunted, if the dead do not stay dead, if a lake causes impossible mutations, if the weather behaves with deliberate malice, if a ruin whispers, if a valley dreams, if a settlement’s children never seem to age, there is probably a Crystal somewhere in the story.

Even if the Crystal is no longer present, its influence may remain in the environment as corruption, taint, resonance, or a long-term alteration of local reality.

Crystals are one of the setting’s great explanatory engines for the uncanny.

Crystals Move

Crystals do not necessarily stay with one bearer forever.

A Seeker may use a Crystal for an entire operation and then surrender it at the end of the mission. Stellaris may reassign it, study it, lock it away, or issue it to someone else. A villain’s powers may come from a Crystal the heroes have seen before. A recovered Crystal may return later in different hands.

Because of this, known Crystals can carry history, rumor, and reputation.

Their identities are not public knowledge, but influential people, experienced rivals, black market handlers, or senior Stellaris personnel may recognize them, or at least know what they imply.

Crystals Remain Mysterious

No one truly understands why Crystals develop themes.

No one fully understands how they produce their powers, why shape and color sometimes seem suggestive, or whether there is a deeper hidden system linking them all. The people of Stellaris know more than most, but even they are still working from fragments, observation, and inherited guesswork.

Crystals remain useful long before they become understandable.

Shards

Some Crystals have shattered into pieces.

How this happens remains unclear. Whole Crystals are diamond-hard and astonishingly resilient, yet shattered remnants undeniably exist. These pieces are called shards.

Shards are weaker and stranger than whole Crystals.

Each shard usually carries only a single narrow effect, but in exchange it is dramatically easier to use. Most ordinary people can activate a shard safely and reliably simply by touching it and willing the effect into action.

That makes shards dangerous in a different way.

A full Crystal is powerful but difficult to use. A shard is limited, but accessible.

Shards and Stellaris Agents

For ordinary people, shards are often mistaken for Crystals.

To trained Stellaris personnel, the difference is obvious. A shard is smaller, narrower in function, and less stable in identity. But to the average colonist, scavenger, or smuggler, it is all just strange glowing contraband from a dead age.

Stellaris Agents are required to recover shards whenever possible, not only for public safety but because shards can recombine.

When all shards of a broken Crystal are brought together, often three or four pieces, they may reform into the original Crystal. The resulting Crystal does not necessarily express the same powers its shards once held separately.

A shard reveals only part of the whole.

Designing Shards

A shard usually contains a single power that cannot be modified.

In unusual cases, a shard may express two powers at once, especially when the pairing is awkward, unstable, or inconvenient. A shard might heal while also causing havoc, or boost one Trait while lowering another.

Unlike full Crystals, shards do not really have themes of their own. They are fragments of a larger Crystal’s expression.

Using Shards

A non-Agent using a shard makes a Spirit roll to recognize what it does and activate it.

A Stellaris Agent using a shard must roll Crystal Channeling instead, and any failure causes a desync.

Shards do not support:

• Power Modifiers
• Power Stunts
• flexible interpretation

They do one thing, and usually only that thing.

That simplicity is what makes them so tempting.