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An 'advantage' is a useful trait that gives you a mental, physical, or social 'edge' over someone else who otherwise has the same abilities as you. Each advantage has a cost in character points. This is fixed for some advantages; others can be bought in 'levels', at a cost per level (e.g., Acute Vision costs 2 points/level, so if you want Acute Vision 6, you must pay 12 points). Advantages with 'Variable' cost are more complicated; read the advantage description for details.

You can start out with as many advantages as you can afford - although some advantages are forbidden to certain kinds of characters. You can also add advantages in play, if the GM permits. For instance, beneficial social traits such as Status, Wealth, etc. are advantages, and you could realistically acquire any of these in the source of the game. Magic and high technology can often grant advantages as well.

Advantages fall into several broad categories, each of which affects who can possess those advantages and how they work in play.

Mental advantages originate from your mind, or perhaps even your soul. They stay with you even if your mind ends up in a new body due to possession, a brain transplant, etc. Magical, psionic, and spiritual traits usually fall into this category. Most mental advantages work automatically, but a few require a roll against IQ, Perception, or Will to use. Mental advantages are marked (M).

Physical advantages are part of your body. You lose these traits if your mind moves to a new body - and if another mind takes over your body, the body's new owner gains your physical advantages. Advantages provided by bionics and similar implants usually fall into this category. Make a HT roll to activate any physical advantage that does not work automatically. Physical advantages are marked (P).

Social advantages are associated with your identity. Whether identity is a facet of mind or of body depends on the game world. In a fantasy setting, a demon might possess a duke and 'become' a respected noble instead of a feared demon, while in a far-future society, people might routinely 'upload' into new bodies with no effect on social standing. As with all things, the GM's word is final. Note that this category includes Rank, Status, Wealth, and related traits. Social advantages are marked (So).

Many exotic and supernatural advantages (see below) could belong to these categories, and some advantages could have multiple different origins (for example, (P/M)) where especially appropriate. The GM has the final say. The (P), (M), and (So) markers are meant to assist GM judgment, not replace it.

Exotic advantages are traits that ordinary humans cannot have without ultra-tech body modification or similar tampering; for instance, extra arms or death-ray vision. Nonhumans will often have exotic advantages on a racial basis, but this does not entitle them to add such traits freely. You need the GM's permission to add exotic traits that do not appear on your racial template. Exotic advantages are marked (Ex).

Supernatural advantages are impossible in nature and cannot be justified by science - or even 'super-science'. They rely on divine intervention, magic, psionics, etc. The classic example is magical talent (see Magery). Supernatural traits differ from exotic ones in that anyone might be supernaturally gifted - even a 'normal' human, if the GM permits. Having a trait like this does not automatically mark you as an alien or a mutant. Supernatural advantages are marked (Su).

Mundane advantages are inborn or learned edges and knacks that anyone might have. There are normally no restrictions on who may possess a mundane advantage. Mundane advantages are not specially marked - if you don't see (Ex) or (Su), the advantages is mundane and available to anyone with the GM's permission. This last point is important! Some mundane traits are intended for cinematic campaigns (see The Cinematic Campaign); the GM may forbid them in realistic games. Cinematic traits are always clearly indicated in the text, and marked (Cin).

When you select exotic or supernatural advantages, you must also choose an in-game justification for those abilities: biology, high technology, a divine gift, etc. Explaining your capabilities in terms that have meaning in the game world will give you a better 'feel' for your character and give the GM some additional 'adventure hooks'.

Origins are usually just special effects. For instance, if you can sprout claws, they use the rules under Claws whether they are natural, cybernetic, or a gift from the Tiger God. Sometimes, though, you will encounter things that can only affect or be affected by a specific class of abilities. Furthermore, the GM may rule that talents with certain origins are more or less effective in a particular situation. In those cases, it is important to know how your advantage works.

Most characters have only one origin for all of their abilities, but you may choose a separate origin for each of your advantages if you wish, subject to GM approval. The GM sets the origins available in his campaign. Examples include:

Biological: Inborn features (unique to you or part of your racial makeup) and mutations. Medical science can detect and analyze these traits, and - at higher tech levels - add or remove them through genetic engineering, implants, or surgery.

Chi: Powers that originate from the 'inner strength' of martial artists and yoga masters (also known as ki and prana). Disease and similar afflictions can sometimes weaken such abilities - for instance, by throwing your yin and yang out of balance.

Cosmic: Abilities that emanate from the universe itself or otherwise defy explanation. This is reserved for gods, powerful spirits, supers, etc. If your ability produces effects that only other cosmic powers can counteract, this is an enhancement; see Cosmic.

Divine: Gifts from the gods (if you are a god, use Cosmic). In areas of low 'sanctity' for your god - e.g., the temple of a rival god, or a foreign land where your god is unknown - you might find your abilities reduced or unavailable.

High-Tech: Nonbiological implants in biological characters, as well as all abilities of cyborgs, robots, and vehicles. Sensors can detect and analyze such traits, and certain high-tech countermeasures might be able to neutralize them.

Magic: Talents that draw upon magical energy, or mana. You need not be a wizard yourself; this category includes such lasting sorcerous effects as personal enchantments. If your gifts do not function at all in areas without mana, and function at -5 to die rolls in low mana (like spells), then this is a limitation: Mana Sensitive, -10%.

Psionic: Advantages that originate from the power of the mind. In settings where psi powers exist, there are drugs, gadgets, and specialized anti-psi powers that can detect and defeat them. As a result, they are bought with a special limitation; see Psionics.

Spirit: Abilities enabled by invoking spirits. You only seem to be the focus of the effects; in reality, invisible supernatural beings are doing your bidding. Obviously, if the spirits cannot reach you, your abilities do not work.

You will sometimes see an advantage you would like to have but that would not make sense at the start of your career - or that you cannot afford on your starting points! Or you might just want to start your adventuring career with unrealized potential, like countless fictional heroes. In either situation, the GM may choose to let you set aside 50% of the cost of an advantage as a 'down payment' against acquiring the advantage later on.

When you take a potential advantage like this, sit down with the GM and work out the in-game conditions under which you will acquire the desired trait. When these conditions are met, you must use bonus character points to pay the other half of the price as soon as possible; see Improvement Through Adventure. The GM is free to assess partial or uncontrollable benefits befitting the trait until you finish paying for the full, controllable advantage.

Examples of potential advantages include:

Heir: You stand to inherit wealth or a title. The GM decides when you will come into your inheritance. At that time, you acquire Status, Wealth, or other social privileges worth twice the points set aside for this trait. Until then, you enjoy extra money, reaction modifiers, etc. equal to half what you stand to gain. For instance, if you stood to inherit +2 to Status [10] and Comfortable wealth [10], Heir would cost 10 points, and give +1 to Status and a 50% bonus to starting wealth.

Schrodinger's Advantage: You can specify that at some critical juncture in an adventure, just when all seems lost, you will suddenly discover a new ability - worth twice the points you have set aside - that will help you out of trouble. You must immediately pay the remaining points to use your new ability. This is a powerful option. To keep things fair, points set aside this way provide no benefit until you discover your hidden talent.

Secret Advantage: You have an advantage you don't know about! The GM picks an advantage or set of advantages worth twice the points you have set aside… but he will not tell you what it is, or even give you a clue! The GM will reveal the truth at a suitably dramatic moment. Until then, the advantage provides the usual benefits - but it isn't under your control, so you won't be able to rely on it. The advantage functions normally once revealed and paid for.

The GM determines which exotic and supernatural traits are allowed - and to whom - in his game. In a futuristic 'transhuman' game world, the GM might declare that it is possible to add specific exotic advantages via surgery or genetic modification, but rule that supernatural advantages simply do not exist. In a 1920s horror game, the GM might allow many supernatural abilities, but no exotic ones. And in a supers campaign, the GM could let the players buy anything they have points for, vetting troublesome traits on a case-by-case basis. Players should develop the habit of reading (Ex) and (Su) as 'requires GM permission.'

An advantage that never inconveniences you (e.g., Intuition), that has to be on at all times to be of benefit (e.g., Resistant), or that reflects a permanent trait of your species (e.g., Extra Arms) is always on. You cannot turn it off.

Most other advantages are switchable: you can turn them off and on at will. To do so requires a one-second Ready maneuver, with activation or deactivation occurring as soon as you execute the maneuver. Unlike certain skills and magic spells, this does not require concentration; switching an advantage is second nature, and cannot be 'interrupted.' The default condition (while sleeping, unconscious, etc.) is 'on.'

Attacks - notably Affliction, Binding, and Innate Attack - are only 'on' while you are attacking. An advantage like this requires a one-second Attack maneuver to use; you cannot switch it on continuously without a special enhancement.

Exceptions to these guidelines are noted explicitly.

Whether you pay points for a useful relationship with an NPC or collect points for a troublesome one, it is unlikely that the NPC will be a constant presence. Each friend or foe has a frequency of appearance, and will figure into a given adventure only if the GM rolls less than or equal to that number on 3d at the start of the adventure. How the NPC interacts with you if the roll succeeds depends on the nature of the relationship.

Frequency of appearance multiplies the point cost for an Associated NPC after determining power level and group size (as applicable), but before you apply any special modifiers:

Constantly (no roll required): x4. The NPC is always present. This level is reserved for NPCs - usually Allies - that are implanted, worn like clothing, or supernaturally attached.

Almost all the time (roll of 15 or less): x3.

Quite often (roll of 12 or less): x2.

Fairly often (roll of 9 or less): x1.

Quite rarely (roll of 6 or less): x1/2 (round up).

When you buy Damage Resistance - or any advantage that protects against damage (as opposed to non-damaging effects) - you may specify that it is only effective against certain damage types. This is a limitation that reduces the cost of the advantage. Attacks fall into four rarity classes for this purpose:

Very Common: An extremely broad category of damage that you are likely to encounter in almost any setting. Examples: ranged attacks, melee attacks, physical attacks (from any material substance), energy attacks (e.g., beam weapons, electricity, fire, heat and cold, and sound), or all damage with a specified advantage origin (chi, magic, psionics, etc.) -20%.

Common: A broad category of damage. Examples: a standard damage type (one of burning, corrosion, crushing, cutting, impaling, piercing, or toxic), a commonly encountered class of substances (e.g., metal, stone, water, wood, or flesh), a threat encountered in nature and produced by exotic powers or technology (e.g., acid, cold, electricity, or heat/fire), or refinement of a 'Very Common' category (e.g., magical energy). -40%.

Occasional: A fairly specific category of damage. Examples: a common substance (e.g., steel or lead), any one specific class of damage that is usually produced only by exotic abilities or technology (e.g., particle beams, lasers, disintegrators, or shaped charges), or a refinement of a 'Common' category (e.g., magical electricity, piercing metal). -60%.

Rare: An extremely narrow category of damage. Examples: charged particle beams, dragon's fire, piercing lead, ultraviolet lasers, or an uncommon substance (e.g., silver or blessed weapons). -80%.

Unless specified otherwise, limited DR works only against direct effects. If you are levitated using magic and then dropped, the damage is from the fall; “DR vs. magic” would not protect. If a magic sword struck you, “DR vs. magic” would only protect against the magical component of its damage. Similarly, “DR vs. trolls” would not help against a boulder hurled by a troll - the damage is from a boulder, not a troll. Be sure to work out such details with the GM before setting the value of the limitation. If the GM feels that a quality would never directly influence damage, he need not allow it as a limitation!

You have a 360° field of vision. You have no penalty to defend against attacks from the sides or rear. You can attack foes to your sides or rear without making a Wild Swing, but you are at -2 to hit due to the clumsy angle of attack (note that some Karate techniques do not suffer this penalty). Finally, you are at +5 to detect Shadowing attempts, and are never surprised by a danger that comes from behind, unless it also is concealed from sight.

Extra eyes are merely a special effect of this trait - you can have any number of eyes, but the point cost remains the same.

This trait most often represents extra eyes, eyestalks, etc., but it doesn’t have to be physiological. Espers, martial-arts masters, omniscient deities, and the like might know what’s going on behind them without having to look.

To follow several things going on around you at once, take Enhanced Tracking instead or as well. Without this, you must focus on one thing at a time.

Panoptic 1: You can see all around you without turning your head and without the need for extra eyes. This is an enhancement because your gift isn’t obvious – you can visibly stare in one direction and actually be looking in another! You still need eyes, though. If you’re blindfolded, dazzled, blinded by injuries, etc., you cannot see. +20%.

Panoptic 2: As above, but you don’t need eyes. You can always perceive everything going on around you, even if blinded or blindfolded. You still need light, unless you have something like Dark Vision. Blows to the eyes injure you normally but won’t blind this sense. +60%.

Easy to Hit: Your eyes are on stalks, unusually large, or otherwise more vulnerable to attack. Others can target your eyes from within their arc of vision at only -6 to hit. -20%.

Those with body-alteration or shapeshifting powers often add Switchable to temporarily grow extra eyes. Light power might let the user direct light coming from all directions to his eyes; this calls for Panoptic 1. Panoptic 2 is for those with supernatural powers – ESP, chi, divine omniscience, etc. In all cases, Talent adds to the user’s IQ and Vision rolls to notice the presence of “interesting” activity in parts of his visual field he isn’t currently focusing on.

You have an excellent sense of direction. This ability comes in two levels:

Absolute Direction: You always know which way is north, and you can always retrace a path you have followed within the past month, no matter how faint or confusing. This ability does not work in environments such as interstellar space or the limbo of the astral plane, but it does work underground, underwater, and on other planets. This gives +3 to Body Sense and Navigation (Air, Land, or Sea). (Note: The navigational sense that guides migratory creatures to their destination is too crude to qualify; treat it as a 0-point feature.) 5 points.

3D Spatial Sense: As above, but works in three dimensions. This ability is useful in deep space - although it does not help you if you travel across dimensions. You get the skill bonuses given for Absolute Direction, plus +1 to Piloting and +2 to Aerobatics, Free Fall, and Navigation (Hyperspace or Space). 10 points.

Requires Signal: You rely on signals from a navigational satellite network (like Earth's GPS) or similar system. Your ability does not function in the absence of such a system, and it can be jammed. -20%.

You have an accurate mental clock. This ability comes in two levels, both of which are somewhat cinematic:

Absolute Timing: You always know what time it is, with a precision equal to the best personal timepieces widely available in your culture (but never better than a few seconds). You can measure elapsed time with equal accuracy. Neither changes of time zone nor sleep interferes with this ability, and you can wake up at a predetermined time if you choose. Being knocked unconscious, hypnotized, etc, may prevent this advantage from working, and time travel will confuse you until you find out what the 'new' time is. 2 points.

Chronolocation: As above, but time travel does not interfere - you always know what time it is in an absolute sense. Note that things like Daylight Savings Time and calendar reform can still confuse you! When you travel in time, the GM may tell you, 'You have gone back exactly 92,876.3 days,“ and let you - or your character - deal with questions like, 'What about leap year?' 5 points.

This new advantage, especially suited to futuristic and fantastic campaigns, means you assimilate knowledge and skills abnormally quickly. Increase the hours gained from any form of time-based learning in play by 50% for Accelerated Learning 1 or by 100% for Accelerated Learning 2. Abilities bought at character creation are unaffected. This is essentially the effect of smart drugs, but as an inherent advantage, applicable to anything you might study.

You have superior senses. Each Acute Sense is a separate advantage that give +1 per level to all Sense rolls you make - or the GM makes for you - using that one sense.

Acute Hearing gives you a bonus to hear something, or to notice a sound (for instance, someone taking the safety off a gun in the dark). It can be useful to detect ambushes or pinpoint the source of incoming fire. 2 points/level.

Acute Taste and Smell gives you a bonus to notice a taste or smell (for instance, poison in your drink). 2 points/level.

Acute Touch gives you a bonus to detect something by touch (for instance, a concealed weapon when patting down a suspect). 2 points/level.

Acute Vision gives you a bonus to spot things visually, and whenever you do a visual search (for instance, looking for traps or footprints). It is helpful for spotting threats and improving visual range. 2 points/level.

With the GM's permission, you may also buy Acute Sense advantages for specialized senses such as Scanning Sense and Vibration Sense.

You cannot usually buy Acute Senses in play - raise your Perception instead. However, if you lose a sense, the GM may allow you to spend earned points on other Acute Senses to compensate. For instance, if you are blinded, you might acquire Acute Hearing.

(see Rank)

You have an attack that causes a baneful, nondamaging effect: blindness, paralysis, weakness, etc. This might be an ultra-tech beam weapon, a chemical spray, a supernatural gaze attack, or almost anything else. Specify the details when you buy the advantage.

By default, Affliction is a ranged attack with 1/2D 10, Max 100, Acc 3, RoF 1, Shots N/A, and Recoil 1, although you can apply modifiers to change these statistics.

If you hit, your victim gets a HT+1 roll to resist. Apply a penalty equal to the level of the Affliction (so Affliction 1 gives an unmodified HT roll.) The victim gets a bonus equal to his DR unless the Affliction has one of the following modifiers: Blood Agent, Contact Agent, Cosmic, Follow-Up, Malediction, Respiratory Agent or Sense-Based. To reduce the effects of DR, add the Armor Divisor enhancement. The victim gets a further +3 if he is beyond 1/2D range.

If the victim makes his HT roll, he is unaffected. If he fails, he suffers the effects of the Affliction. By default, he is stunned. He may roll vs. HT+1 once per second to recover, but once again at a penalty equal to the level of the Affliction (DR has no effect on this roll.)

If your Affliction causes an effect other than stunning, this is a special enhancement (see below). You can inflict more than one effect by giving your Affliction multiple special enhancements. These effects occur simultaneously, except where noted.

Successive Afflictions that produce the same effects are not normally cumulative. Use the single worst effect.

Use the special enhancements below to create specific Afflictions. Many Attack Enhancements and Limitations are also logical. For instance, a blinding flash is Sense-Based; most drugs have Follow-Up, Blood Agent, or Contact Agent; supernatural attacks like the 'evil eye' use Malediction; and touch attacks call for Melee Attack.

If an Affliction produces two or more effects due to the special enhancements below, some of these effects may be secondary. Secondary effects occur only if the victim fails his HT roll by 5 or more or rolls a critical failure. A secondary effect is worth 1/5 as much; e.g., Secondary Heart Attack is +60% rather than +300%.

Instead of causing a set effect, an Affliction with the Attribute Penalty enhancement, or an enhancement that adds or removes a leveled trait, can make that enhancement Margin-Based. This triples the cost of the enhancement, but the effect is multiplied by the subject’s margin of failure (maximum x10). For example, a victim hit by Affliction 1 (HT; Attribute Penalty, -2 to IQ, Margin Based, +60%) would lose 2 points of IQ for every point by which he failed to resist.

Once you have chosen all the modifiers on your Affliction, describe the nature of the attack as detailed for Innate Attack.

Affliction covers any attack that causes an effect other than injury (see Innate Attack) or physical restraint (see Binding). General forms of Affliction often seen in fiction include:

Beam: A ranged attack that affects one target; e.g., a paralysis beam or a shrinking ray. This is the most basic form of Affliction. It’s especially suitable for supers, gods, and ultra-tech beam weapons. Roll against Innate Attack (Beam) to hit.

Curse: Fantasy and horror Afflictions are more often “spells” than “bolts of power,” with the attacker calling upon supernatural forces to weaken or incapacitate his foe. The only requirement is Malediction 1 (+100%). To simulate the spells on pp. B242-253, add suitable levels of Costs Fatigue (-5%/level) and Takes Extra Time (-10%/level). Most mental effects are Based on Will (+20%). There’s never any roll to hit; Maledictions use a Will roll instead.

Field: The user constantly emits a baneful effect; e.g., a demon might cause those who approach too closely to suffer Agony (+100%). If he affects everyone around him once, when they first come within range, take Area Effect (+50%/level) and Emanation (-20%). If he automatically attacks anyone he touches or who touches him each time he makes contact, use Aura (+80%) and Melee Attack (-30%) instead. In either case, add Always On. This is a -10% limitation, as Afflictions are socially inconvenient but not physically troublesome for the user. No roll to hit is required, but those with Aura can actively try to affect a victim by making a melee attack.

Gas: Sleeping gas, paralysis gas, and the like. Such Afflictions have Area Effect (+50%/level) and one of Respiratory Agent (+50%), Blood Agent (+100%), or Contact Agent (+150%). For a mobile gas cloud, add Drifting (+20%) and Persistent (+40%). A gas that surrounds the attacker has Emanation (-20%) instead. Insidious gases have No Signature (+20%) and possibly Onset (variable). There’s no roll to hit; gas has a chance of affecting everyone exposed to it.

Gaze: A gaze is a common vehicle for supernatural Afflictions. For instance, a hypnotic gaze might cause the target to sleep. If the gaze works on any target the attacker can see, it has the Vision-Based enhancement (+150%). Roll against Innate Attack (Gaze) to hit. Gaze attacks by fantasy monsters tend to be short-ranged and curse-like; apply Malediction 1 (+100%) and the Vision-Based limitation (-20%) instead. To affect the target, make the usual Will roll for Malediction.

Mental Blast: Direct mind-to-mind attacks that stun or daze are common psi abilities. Such Afflictions have Malediction 2 (+150%) and Based on Will (+20%). If the attack is totally undetectable, add No Signature (+20%). As with all Maledictions, the only roll required is a Will roll.

Sensory Attack: Some Afflictions affect everyone nearby though their senses. Such attacks have Area Effect (+50%/level) and Emanation (-20%). Bright flashes are Vision-Based (+150%), with a Disadvantage enhancement that inflicts Blindness (+50%); howls, thunderclaps, etc., are Hearing-Based (+150%), and cause Deafness (+20%). As with gas, no roll to hit is necessary – everyone in the area is exposed.

Touch: Monsters, wizards, and supers often have to touch those they wish to afflict. The simplest form of this is Melee Attack (-30%). Attacks that must touch bare skin or an open wound have Contact Agent (-30%) or Blood Agent (-40%), respectively, while supernatural attacks that bypass DR get Malediction 1 (+100%). Make an unarmed melee attack to hit. For Malediction, roll the Quick Contest to see if the Affliction works only after scoring a hit.

Venom: Toxins often cause weakness, paralysis, unconsciousness, coma, or heart attack. Those borne on fangs, claws, etc. have Follow-Up (+0%), while poisonous spray or spit has Contact Agent (-30%) or Blood Agent (-40%). Many poisons take time to work; if so, add Onset (variable). Make a melee attack to hit with a natural weapon. Roll against Innate Attack (Breath) to hit with spray or spit.

Afflictions that do more than stun have special enhancements, too. Effects might be inconvenient (Irritant, Negated Advantage, or modest levels of Attribute Penalty or Disadvantage), crippling (Incapacitation, or extreme levels of Attribute Penalty or Disadvantage), or lethal (Coma or Heart Attack). Note that Choking isn’t usually lethal – it responds to mundane treatment that takes two seconds and a First Aid roll (artificial respiration, oxygen mask, Heimlich maneuver, etc., depending on “special effects”).

The Advantage enhancement is a special case. It’s useful for specialized attacks; for instance, it might shrink the target (Shrinking, +50%/level) or turn him into a specter (Insubstantiality, +800%). However, it’s also a key element of many beneficial abilities, which use special rules; see Beneficial Afflictions, below.

Remember that an Affliction can have multiple effects. If an effect applies only if the victim fails his HT roll by 5+ or rolls a critical failure, it’s “secondary” and worth 1/5 as much. If the GM wishes, effects that require a critical success on the user’s roll (attack roll, Will roll for Malediction, etc.) can also be secondary. Finally, note that it’s often more cost-effective to add the Malediction enhancement than to buy high levels of Affliction. Against a high-HT target, a Quick Contest of Will vs. HT is more likely to succeed than an unopposed HT roll (even at a penalty) is to fail.

An Innate Attack with the Side Effect or Symptoms enhancement can have Affliction-like effects in addition to damage. Side Effect is better than Affliction for simulating “reduced lethality” weapons. Symptoms are generally superior for poisons and diseases that incapacitate with only moderate injury. Healers should note that the Healing advantage costs far less than Affliction with Advantage, Regeneration.

If an Affliction’s effects are so unquestionably positive that no one would ever object to them, the GM may reverse the sign of the HT modifier; e.g., Affliction 3 gives a HT+2 roll instead of a HT-2 roll. Duration becomes minutes equal to the subject’s margin of success, not his margin of failure.

If such an Affliction has Malediction, the subject can waive his right to resist. The ability works if the user can make an unopposed Will roll (at the usual range penalties). In this case, duration in minutes equals the user’s margin of success.

An Affliction can affect anything with a HT score… if the target is susceptible to its effects. Most inanimate objects – including all machines – have Immunity to Metabolic Hazards. This stops most Afflictions, with two exceptions.

Afflictions restricted to inanimate targets via Accessibility modifiers (such as “Only on Electrical”) affect those objects instead of living beings. This is only acceptable in conjunction with effects that make sense for the intended targets. You could render a machine “unconscious” by cutting its power, but you couldn’t inflict nausea.

Afflictions that cause Invisibility, Shrinking, and other transformations through the Advantage modifier affect everything. To prevent those with low levels from zapping planets, the GM should let unliving, homogenous, and diffuse targets add their SM to their resistance roll (an Earth-sized planet is SM +43). If modified HT comes to 21+ after applying SM and the Affliction’s HT modifier, resistance is automatic – nothing happens.

Advantage: The victim immediately experiences the effects of a specific physical or mental advantage. Advantages with instantaneous effects affect the target once, as soon as he is hit, if he fails his HT roll; e.g., Warp immediately teleports the subject. Advantages that can be switched on and off (such as Insubstantiality) are automatically 'on' for one minute per point by which the victim fails his HT roll, and are not under the subject's control. This is worth +10% per point the advantage is worth; e.g., Insubstantiality would be +800%! If the advantage comes in levels, specify the level.

Attribute Penalty: The victim suffers temporary attribute loss. This is +5% per -1 to ST or HT, or +10% per -1 to DX or IQ. For instance, an attack that caused DX-3 and IQ-2 would be +50%. Lower all skills based on reduced attributes by a like amount. ST penalties also reduce BL and damage, while IQ reductions also apply to Will and Perception. Secondary characteristics are not otherwise affected; for instance, HT reduction does not affect Basic Speed or FP. Penalties last for one minute per point by which the victim fails his HT roll.

Coma: The victim collapses, profoundly unconscious, and will likely die in days unless treated; see Mortal Conditions (p429). +250%.

Cancellation: You can cancel the effects of your Affliction before the duration would expire. This requires either a touch or a second, successful activation roll with whatever range penalties (to the subject) would normally apply. +10%.

Cumulative: Repeated attacks are cumulative! You must take this in conjunction with Attribute Penalty, or with an Advantage, Disadvantage, or Negated Advantage Enhancement that inflicts a 'leveled' trait. +400%.

Disadvantage: The victim temporarily gains one or more specific physical or mental disadvantages (but not self-imposed mental disadvantages.) This is worth +1% per point the temporary disadvantages are worth; e.g., Paranoia [-10] is worth +10%. If a disadvantage comes in levels, specify the level. The disadvantages last for one minute per point by which the victim fails his HT roll.

Heart Attack: The victim suffers an incapacitating heart attack, and will die in minutes unless treated; see Mortal Conditions (p429). +300%.

Incapacitation: The victim is incapacitated for a number of minutes equal to the margin of failure on his HT roll. After that, he is stunned until he can make a HT roll (roll once per second). If you combine Incapacitation with other effects (such as Irritant), those effects occur after the Incapacitation wears off; they replace the stunning and last for the same length of time the Incapacitation did. Incapacitation can take the form of any of the following: Daze, +50%; Hallucinating, +50%; Retching, +50%; Agony, +100%; Choking, +100%; Ecstasy, +100%; Seizure, +100%; Paralysis, +150%; Sleep, +150%; or Unconsciousness, +200%. See Incapacitating Conditions (p428) for the game effects.

Irritant: The victim suffers an impairing but non-incapacitating condition instead of being stunned. It lasts for a number of minutes equal to the margin of failure on his HT roll. The possibilities are Tipsy, +10%; Coughing, +20%; Drunk, +20%; Moderate Pain, +20%; Euphoria, +30%; Nauseated, +30%; Severe Pain, +40%; or Terrible Pain, +60%. For definitions, see Irritating Conditions (p428).

Negated Advantage: The victim loses a specific advantage for one minute per point by which he failed his HT roll. There is no effect if the victim lacks that advantage! This enhancement is worth +1% per point the advantage is worth. If the advantage comes in levels, you must specify the level negated.

Stunning: May only accompany Advantage, Attribute Penalty, Disadvantage, or Negated Advantage. If the victim fails to resist, he is stunned (per an unmodified Affliction) in addition to the effects of the other enhancement(s). +10%.

Many fictional heroes have partners - loyal comrades, faithful sidekicks, trusted retainers, or lifelong friends - who accompany them on adventures. These partners are 'Allies.'

The other PCs in your adventuring party are, in a sense, 'allies.' But they can be unreliable allies indeed. Often they are chance acquaintances, first encountered at a roadside tavern only hours ago. They have their own hidden goals, ethics, and motives, which might not coincide with your own.

An NPC Ally, on the other hand, is wholly reliable. Perhaps you fought side by side in a long war, trained under the same master, or grew up in the same village. The two of you trust each other implicitly. You travel together, fight back-to-back, share rations in hard times, and trade watches through the night.

Your Ally is usually agreeable to your suggestions, but he is not your puppet. He will disagree with you from time to time. An Ally may try to dissuade you from a plan that seems foolish to him - and if he can't talk you out of the plan, he may refuse to cooperate. An Ally may even cause problems for you: picking fights, landing in jail, insulting a high noble… Of course, the Ally will also try to bail you out when you make mistakes.

The GM will not award you bonus character points for any play session in which you betray, attack, or unnecessarily endanger your Ally. Blatant, prolonged, or severe betrayal will break the trust between you and your Ally, and he will leave you permanently. If you drive your Ally off in this way, the points you spent on him are gone, reducing your point value. Leading your Ally into danger is alright, as long as you face the same danger and are a responsible leader.

The point cost for an Ally depends on his power and frequency of appearance. Only PCs who take NPCs as Allies pay points for the privilege. Two PCs can be mutual 'allies' for free, as can two NPCs - and NPCs never pay points for PCs as Allies. An Ally is specifically a skilled NPC associate for one PC.

Consult the following table to determine how many points you must spend on your Ally. “Point Total” is the Ally's point total expressed as a percentage of the PC's starting points; “Cost” is the cost of the Ally. If the Ally's point total falls between two percentages, use the higher.

Allies built on more than 150% of the PC's starting points are not allowed; treat such NPCs as Patrons. Exception: The progression above extends indefinitely for nonsentient (IQ 0) Allies; each +50% of the PC's starting points costs a further +5 points.

Allies built on no more than 100% of the PC's starting points may also be Dependents. Add the cost of Ally and Dependent together, and treat the combination as a single trait: an advantage if the total point cost is positive, a disadvantage if it is negative.

You can purchase as many Allies as you can afford. Each Ally is normally a separate advantage, but you can treat a group of related Allies as a single trait to save space on your character sheet. For a group of individuals - with their own unique abilities and character sheets - add the costs of the individual Allies to find the cost of the group, adjust the total cost for frequency of appearance, and then apply any special modifiers.

For a group of more than five identical and interchangeable allies that share a single character sheet - for instance, an army of low-grade thugs or a swarm of robot drones - find the point cost to have one member of the group as an Ally, and then multiply that cost as follows to find the cost of the group:

Add x6 to the multiplier per tenfold increase in number (e.g., 100,000 Allies would be x30). The GM may require an Unusual Background if you wish to have hordes of Allies, or even prohibit groups larger than a certain size - although he might permit an army or other large group as a Patron. Frequency of appearance multipliers and special modifiers (if any) apply to the final cost of the entire group.

Choose a frequency of appearance. If your Ally appears at the start of an adventure, he accompanies you for the duration of that adventure.

As with Dependents, the GM will adjust your Ally's abilities in order to keep his point total a fixed percentage of your own as you earn points. This will keep his value as an advantage constant. The GM decides how the Ally evolves, although he might ask you for your input.

If your Ally dies through no fault of yours, the GM will not penalize you. You may put the points spent on the deceased Ally toward a new Ally. The new relationship should normally develop gradually, but the GM might allow an NPC to become an Ally on the spot if you have done something that would win him over (e.g., saving his life). This is especially appropriate in cultures where debts of honor are taken seriously!

There is no penalty for amicably parting ways with your Ally. You may use the points spent on him to buy a new Ally met during play. At the GM's discretion, you may trade in any remaining points for money, reflecting parting gifts.

Wizards, telepaths, and so on are often supernaturally linked to special Allies known as familiars. These are usually animals or spirits.

Work out a familiar's basic abilities with the GM, starting with the racial template of an ordinary creature of its kind. If its racial IQ is 5 or less, raise it to at least 6. Consider buying off Cannot Speak, if applicable. Most familiars have supernatural advantages: Extra Lives for a cat (it has nine lives, after all!), Mindlink and Telesend for a familiar that can transmit its thoughts, etc.

Once you have determined the familiar's abilities, work out its point total and its base value as an Ally. Select frequency of appearance as usual. This may be how often your familiar is available (on a failed appearance roll, it is sleeping, reporting to a demon lord, etc.) or how often its powers work (on a failure, it is no more capable than an ordinary member of its species, and cannot use or grant special powers) - your choice.

This kind of Ally usually has one or more special modifiers. Minion, Summonable, and Sympathy are common. Unwilling is typical of demonic or otherwise evil familiars. Take Special Abilities only if your familiar grants you powers; e.g., extra Fatigue Points with which to fuel spells or exotic or supernatural advantages that emulate the familiar's own abilities (such as Flight, for a bird.) You have no access to these abilities on a failed appearance roll; if your familiar is stunned, unconscious or dead; or in areas where your special link does not function (GM's decision). Buy these abilities with a -40% Accessibility limitation: “Granted by familiar.”

This is a reasonable price in games where PCs might otherwise create hordes of entities in play for free. In other campaigns, however, even a hoard of 10 can get out of hand, never mind 100. The GM may therefore wish to enforce a minimum point total of 25% for hordes – a fair solution, given that the master will benefit from more-capable servants. The following approaches are particularly suitable, and can be combined:

• Offer “improved” templates with fewer weaknesses than non-Ally hordes. They might retain human IQ and lack Cannot Learn, so that they can “grow” in points in step with their master; removing the typical IQ-2 and Cannot Learn will add 70 points to a zombie. Or perhaps they have Unaffected by (Spell) perks to protect against magical dispelling and theft.
• Set a minimum point value in attributes and useful skills for the “raw material.” For instance, generic warriors-made-zombies might start with ST 11, DX 11, HT 11, and 25 points in combat skills, picking up 65 points.

This isn’t to say that players have free rein to fiddle with zombie templates or character sheets – they don’t. Like all Associated NPCs (p. B31), Allies are the GM’s to create. The GM applies whatever changes are needed to raise the zombie’s point value to 25% or more of the PC’s points. This will make the cost less trivial. For example, at 25%, a horde of 100 zombies that materializes on 12 or less is a serious 48-point advantage, not a minor 10-point one.

Even with this measure, vast zombie legions can warp the campaign. The GM may wish to restrict large forces to zombie-masters with suitable adjunct abilities. “One Ally per level of Magery, Power Investiture, or an appropriate power Talent” is simple but perhaps too strict. It might be better to look up level in the “Size” column of the Size and Speed/Range Table and then read “Linear Measurement” in “zombies” rather than “yards”: three zombies for Magery or Power Investiture 1, five at level 2, seven at level 3, etc. For mad scientists, use levels of a standard skill Talent such as Artificer, or even levels past IQ in Science! skill.

If the GM is generous and of a tactical mind, and intends for PCs to lead armies in play, then he could permit hordes large enough that at a spacing of one zombie per hex on a battle map, each level of the enabling trait lets the zombie-master command one ring of zombies around him. This works out to 3 x level x (level + 1) zombies. The next table sums up the results: “Level” is the level of the trait, and also the number of rings; “Horde Size” is the total number of zombies in those rings; “Group Size” is the standard range used to price Allies; and “Group Multiplier” is the multiplier to Ally cost for that group size.

Whatever the limit, a horde consists of interchangeable Allies with identical character sheets. The player who wants diversity must purchase one Allies advantage per subtype or individual with its own distinct write-up.

If a zombie-master wishes to replace lost Allies, he might have to pay in time, money, and/or magical energy, but never in points; to determine such costs, see Zombification (Zombies, pp. 133-136).

The GM may further require a day and a skill roll to “attune,” “bond,” or “program” each replacement. This should involve a suitable skill chosen from those under Maintenance (Zombies, p. 62).

Growing a group of Allies follows the same guidelines, except that the PC must also pay the difference in point cost between new and old group size, and possibly raise the level of some enabling trait to justify this.

Someone with many zombie Allies (pp 27-29) might send them to war. This calls for GURPS Mass Combat, with these notes:

Element type. Zombies are usually infantry of some kind, and begin with the stats of the element they were made from.

Numbers. Number of elements is (horde size)/10, dropping fractions; e.g., a necromancer with 126 zombies commands 12 elements.

Logistics. At TL0-3, zombies cost nothing to maintain; at TL4+, they’re 50% less costly to maintain. Cost to replace casualties is also lower – subtract 50% unless the means of zombification is clearly better or worse.

Special classes. Only zombies that can understand orders (GM’s decision) and speak (no Cannot Speak or Mute) keep the Reconnaissance class. Only those that can use equipment (IQ 6+ and not Bestial) retain any other class. “Zombie” isn’t a useful class in itself.

Features. Savage zombies are Impetuous; those with suitable advantages have Night (with Dark Vision or Night Vision) or Sealed (requires both Doesn’t Breathe and Vacuum Support); and those with positive template values might rate Super-Soldier (GM’s decision).

Equipment quality. Bestial and IQ 1-5 zombies can’t understand gear, making effective quality Poor. The same goes for ancient undead reanimated with rusty old gear. Otherwise, use whatever quality the zombies had before zombification.

Troop quality. Leaderless, savage, or IQ 1-5 hordes are Inferior. Zombies that obey a master’s orders unquestioningly are Average. Zombies never rise above Average.

Travel. Undead and constructs suffer no penalties from a forced march.

Summoned entities that do little but harass and attack foes – insect swarms, animated shadows, etc. – work better as Afflictions (p. 39) or Innate Attacks (p. 53) with Area Effect, Homing, Mobile, and Persistent. To conjure illusionary creatures, take Illusion (p. 94).

Summonable Allies suit many powers: elemental powers that conjure elemental spirits, magical powers that bring forth familiars, nature powers that call on animals, divine and spirit powers that summon servitor spirits, and so on. Talent never affects appearance rolls but does add to the summoner’s rolls to influence his Allies and his Allies’ reactions toward him.

You can apply the following enhancements and limitations after calculating group cost (if applicable) and multiplying for frequency of appearance:

Minion: Your Ally continues to serve you regardless of how well you treat him. This may be due to programming, fear, awe, or lack of self-awareness. Examples include robots, zombies, and magical slaves. You are free of the usual obligation to treat your Ally well. Mistreatment might result in an inconvenient breakdown (mental or physical), but the Ally will not leave. See Puppet for additional options. +0% if the Minion has IQ 0 or Slave Mentality, as the benefits of total loyalty are offset by the need for close supervision; +50% otherwise.

Special Abilities: Your Ally wields power out of proportion to his point value. Perhaps he has extensive political clout or access to equipment from a TL higher than your own; perhaps he grants you exotic powers. Don't apply this enhancement simply because your Ally has exotic abilities. If his powers are very uncommon, you will already be paying extra: your Ally requires an Unusual Background, which raises his point total and his value as an Ally. +50%.

Summonable: You conjure your Ally instead of rolling to see whether he appears at the start of an adventure. To do so, take a Concentrate maneuver and roll against frequency of appearance. On a success, your Ally appears nearby. On a failure, you cannot attempt to summon him again for one full day. Dismissing your Ally is a free action, but you may only dismiss him if he is physically present. +100%.

The Summonable enhancement converts Allies from a social trait to a supernatural ability to conjure beasts, monsters, spirits, etc. The GM, with the player’s input, decides whether each use summons the same beings or new ones. In the latter case, the GM must make a reaction roll whenever new Allies appear, to determine their willingness to obey orders. If they’re killed, the summoner must wait a full day to call replacements. The drawbacks of conjuring entities with no memory of or devotion to the summoner offset the benefits of being able to replace slain Allies; Summonable costs +100% either way.

Summonable often calls for the Minion enhancement as well. If it brings forth new Allies each time, the GM should require this, as the summoner won’t know his charges well enough to have any special obligation to them. Other modifiers depend on the ability’s origin; Accessibility and Costs Fatigue are common. The GM determines how long it takes summoned beings to appear. This can vary with the circumstances: fire elementals might appear instantly in a volcano but not at all at sea, animals might need to reach the summoner on foot, and so on. This variability makes most modifiers that affect time requirements inappropriate.

Conjured: As Summonable, except that each time the advantage is used, instead of summoning the same beings, it produces different ones. The GM must make a reaction roll whenever new Allies appear, to determine their willingness to obey orders. If they’re killed, the summoner must wait a full day to call replacements. The drawbacks of conjuring entities with no memory of or devotion to the summoner offset the benefits of being able to replace slain Allies just by waiting a day, so the enhancement costs the same as Summonable. +100%.

Sympathy: If you are stunned, knocked out, mind-controlled, etc., your Ally is similarly affected. The reverse is also true, so you should take special care of your Ally! -25% if the death of one party reduces the other to 0 HP; -50% if the death of one party automatically kills the other. If your wounds affect your Ally, but your Ally's wounds don't affect you, reduce these values to -5% and -10%.

Unwilling: You have obtained your Ally through coercion (e.g., blackmail or magical binding). You do not have to treat him as well as you would a normal Ally. However, he hates you and is likely to act accordingly, reducing his overall reliability level. If you endanger such an Ally or order him to do something unpleasant, he may rebel (GM's option) if the consequences of doing so would be less severe than those of doing your bidding. An Ally who rebels is gone, along with the points you spent on him. -50%.

Your rate of time perception is faster than that of a normal human. The first level of this advantage lets you experience time twice as fast as a normal - that is, you experience two subjective seconds for each real second that passes. Each level past the first increases this ratio by one: three times as fast at level 2, four times as fast at level 3, and so on.

Each level of Altered Time Rate lets you take one additional maneuver on your turn in combat, allowing you to cast spells quickly by taking multiple Concentrate maneuvers, run very fast by taking multiple Move maneuvers, etc. Your turn doesn't come any sooner, however! This advantage affects how fast you move when you react, but not how quickly you react in the first place.

Out of combat, Altered Time Rate allows you the luxury of extensive planning, even in crisis situations, as everything seems to happen in slow motion. You may always attempt a Sense roll, or an IQ-based skill roll to make plans or recall information (GM's decision), at no penalty to additional actions.

In order to do anything that depends on someone else's reactions, you must deliberately 'slow down' and function at his speed. This applies both when making a Feint in combat and when making an Influence roll out of combat. For instance, if you choose to Feint, that is all you can do on your turn - you cannot take extra actions. (On the other hand, you could make an All-Out Attack followed by an Attack in order to beat down his defenses through sheer blinding speed!)

This advantage is unrealistic for ordinary humans. Believable shootists should learn perks (notably Quick Reload, Quick-Sheathe, and Quick-Swap), the Fast-Draw skill, and techniques (particularly Fanning, Fast-Firing, Quick-Shot, Thumbing, and Two-Handed Thumbing) to operate faster. However, the flashiest gun fu masters in the movies - sci-fi flicks, especially - seem capable of warping time. In campaigns with such superhuman gunmen, the GM may allow one or more levels of Altered Time Rate to individuals who have Gunslinger. Heroes with this trait rarely need the mundane abilities noted above - they can do all that and more with their extra actions!

Altered Time Rate (ATR) is typical of super-speedsters and over-the-top cinematic martial artists. It’s also appropriate for those who control time, and even suits the fastest computers and robots.

To react quickly, improve Basic Speed and consider either Combat Reflexes or Enhanced Time Sense. High running speed calls for Enhanced Move – or just a good Basic Move. For multiple attacks, take Extra Attack. To speed up learning, get Super-Memorization (see Modular Abilities).

ATR is most suitable for time-control and dedicated super-speed powers, but might also suit cinematic chi powers. Talent never provides a bonus, but offsets penalties for taking less time to execute a task.

Super-Speed: You’re even faster out of combat! When performing mundane or repetitive tasks – building things (including new inventions), reading, making repairs, etc. – look up your ATR level in the Size column of the Size and Speed/Range Table and divide the time required by the number in the Linear Measurement column. For example, ATR 6 gives a divisor of 20, which means a repair that normally requires an hour takes you just three minutes. You can reduce time further by taking a skill penalty (see p. B346). You can’t hasten learning, special abilities (making magic items, concentrating on Mind Control, etc.), Concept rolls when inventing, or interactions with people or machines incapable of matching your speed. The GM may wish restrict Super-Speed to superheroic speedsters. +20%

Non-Combat Speed: You enjoy the benefits of Super-Speed out of combat, but get no additional maneuvers in combat. You can buy some of your ATR with Super-Speed and the rest with this limitation. -60%.

You have multiple, seemingly legal identities. Each time you purchase this trait, your fingerprints (or other biometrics used to verify identity in your world) are registered under another name, and you have an extra set of identity documents (birth certificate, licenses, passport, etc.) good enough to pass close inspection. These identities may also have valid credit cards and bank accounts, but you must supply the money - additional wealth is not included in the package!

If an intelligence or law enforcement agency attempts to identify you with no clue as to your name - for instance, using biometrics or photo-analysis - there is an equal chance for each of your identities to come up. The search will stop… unless they have reason to believe you are a ringer. If the search continues, your other identities will eventually surface, and you will be unmasked. Once a government agency determines who you really are, your Alternate Identities are lost for good.

There are two types of Alternate Identity:

Legal: Some spies and undercover policemen - and even supers, in settings where they are backed by the government: may have a legal Alternate Identity. This requires at least 10 points in Legal Enforcement Powers, Legal Immunity, Police Rank, Security Clearance, etc.; the GM sets the precise prerequisites. If a super has official permission to conceal his original name (e.g., to protect his family) and to hold property in his 'super' name, then that is a legal Alternate Identity combined with a Secret Identity. 5 points.

Illegal: A criminal or foreign agent may have an illegal Alternate Identity. This has the advantage of being completely unknown when you first start out, and of course it cannot be revoked by the government. On the other hand, should it ever be discovered, you will face a stiff fine, a jail sentence, or execution, depending on the time and place. 15 points.

You can fight or otherwise act equally well with either hand, and never suffer the -4 DX penalty for using the 'off' hand. Note that this does not allow you to take extra actions in combat - that's Extra Attack. Should some accident befall one of your arms or hands, assume it is the left one. This allows you to skip Off-Hand Weapon Training - Ambidexterity does the same thing for every combat skill! This means you can switch sides if your weapon arm is hurt or if you need to shoot around an off-hand corner. It doesn't eliminate the -4 for using two weapons at once - learn Dual-Weapon Attack for that.

You are well-adapted to movement in the water. You do not suffer skill penalties for working underwater, and you can swim at your full Basic Move. You still require air (but see Doesn't Breathe). Typical features include smooth, seal-like skin and webbed fingers and toes.

Amphibious creatures ignore the Swimming skill cap underwater and can make retreating defenses without rolling against Aquabatics (see Fighting Underwater, p. 22).

If you can move only in the water, take the Aquatic disadvantage instead.

This trait is normally a permanent morphological adaptation, but with Switchable, it might represent a minor form of body control, the ability to project a “force bubble” that enables easy movement through the water, or supernatural command over water or water spirits.

When Amphibious occurs as part of an elemental Water power, the power of the Sea God, etc., the associated Talent benefits all Swimming and Aquabatics rolls.

You are unusually talented at reading the motivations of animals. When you meet an animal, the GM rolls against your IQ and tells you what you 'feel'. This reveals the beast's emotional state - friendly, frightened, hostile, hungry, etc. - and whether it is under supernatural control. You may also use your Influence skills on animals just as you would on sapient beings, which usually ensures a positive reaction.

This ability frequently accompanies some level of Animal Friend (see Talent), and often Sense of Duty (Animals) or Vow (Vegetarianism).

Above-average appearance is treated as an advantage.

Pick one of the lenses from Motivational Lenses (Champions, pp. 6-8); this need not be your current lens, but the GM may require it. Whenever you are acting within the confines of your motivational lens, you may choose to benefit from any trait listed on that lens as well as Luck. In the latter case, treat your Luck as one level higher if you already have this trait; this has no effect on Ridiculous Luck. Alternatively, you may trade that effect in order to gain up to 3 destiny points for the session (which disappear at the end if left unused) and spend them however you wish – as long as it pertains to your archetype. While you may swap to having destiny points at any point in the game that the GM permits, once you’ve done so, you cannot access the Luck and traits part of this power-up for the rest of the game session. Destiny points gained from this power-up are separate from any that you actually possess – templates that have destiny points can get more destiny points when using this (up to 6 points total).

Some of these lenses are a better deal than others: Champions interested in Operative!, Accidental Hero!, and Philanthropist! would be better suited to simply spending more points on Patron, Luck/Destiny, and Wealth, respectively.

Advantages: Lens!* [60] if the lens is not the one you took as a part of your occupational template, or [45] if it is.

* This treats a single motivational lens worth 15 points or less as if it were a wildcard advantage, allowing the hero to have any trait that makes sense for that lens; cost is quadruple the lens cost, or triple if the lens is one that the character already has.

Some of your arms have extra DX relative to the DX of your body. This DX applies only to things done with those arms or hands. It does not affect Basic Speed! If a task requires two or more hands, and they don't have the same DX, use the lowest DX. Combat skills rely on bodily DX, and do not benefit from this DX at all.

Arm DX costs 12 points per +1 DX for one arm and 16 points per +1 DX for two arms. To raise the DX of three or more arms, buy up overall DX. If you bought your DX with the No Fine Manipulators limitation, apply this limitation to Arm DX as well.

Some of your arms have extra ST relative to the ST of your body. This ST applies only to efforts to lift, throw, or attack with those arms or hands. It does not affect HP or overall Basic Lift! If a task requires multiple hands, and they don't have the same ST, use the average ST.

Arm ST costs 3 points per +1 ST for one arm, 5 points per +1 ST for two arms, and 8 points per +1 ST for three arms. To raise the ST of four or more arms, buy up overall ST. If you bought your ST with the No Fine Manipulators or Size limitations, apply the same limitation(s) to Arm ST.

Prerequisite: Trained by a Master or Weapon Master.

Beefy and suitably cinematic martial artists may have up to two levels of this trait, at 5 points/level. It adds to ST when making armed or unarmed strikes using only the arms (never kicks), and when grappling with the arms (but not for takedowns, pins, or similar full-body wrestling).

You have an attack that can hold your target in place. Specify how this works when you buy the advantage: entangling your victim in vines, tying him up with webs, freezing him inside a block of ice, turning the ground to quicksand beneath his feet, etc.

Binding is a ranged attack with 1/2D -, Max 100, Acc 3, RoF 1, Shots N/A, and Recoil 1. You can add modifiers to change these statistics.

On a hit, your victim is grappled and rooted in place. He cannot select the Move or Change Posture maneuvers or change facing, and is at -4 to DX. The ST of this effect is equal to your Binding level, but you can layer additional attacks on a successfully bound victim. Each extra layer gives +1 to ST.

To break free, the victim must win a Quick Contest of ST or Escape skill against the ST of your Binding. Each attempt takes one second. If the victim fails to break free, he loses 1 FP but may try again. Alternatively, he may try to destroy the Binding. Innate Attacks hit automatically; other attacks are at -4. External attacks on the Binding take no penalty, but risk hitting the victim on a miss (see Striking Into a Close Combat). The Binding has DR equal to 1/3 your level (rounded down). Each point of damage reduces ST by one. At ST 0, the Binding is destroyed and the victim is freed.

To simulate vines, webs, and so forth, add one or more of Area Effect, Persistent, and Wall: and possibly some of the special modifiers below.

Most forms of Binding seen in fiction fall into one of these categories:

Bonds: In its simplest form, Binding ensnares the target with some kind of physical “rope.” This doesn’t require special modifiers – but the two most common examples are webbing, which is Sticky (+20%), and the ability to cause existing vegetation to entangle the target, which is Environmental (-40%).

Encasement: Individuals with the power to command elemental forces can sometimes materialize ice, stone, etc. around a foe, sealing him inside. Simulate this with Engulfing (+60%). Almost any attack can eventually chip away the material, so Only Damaged By X and Unbreakable are rarely appropriate.

Entombment: Another common elemental attack is turning the earth beneath the victim’s feet to mud or quicksand, causing him to sink into the ground. Wizards and evil priests might even command the ground to open up and swallow him! This is Engulfing (+60%), Unbreakable (+40%), and likely Suffocating (+75%). Since it only affects those who are touching the ground and not flying or standing on an artificial surface, it’s also Environmental (-20%).

Force Fields: Supers and wizards often restrain opponents with mysterious forces. Such Bindings are Unbreakable (+40%) and in most cases One-Shot (-10%). If the target is actually “tied up” – not just rooted in place – add Engulfing (+60%).

Goo: Some monsters “slime” their prey with sticky goo. This glues the victim’s arms to his sides, clogs his mouth, and leaves him helpless. Represent this with Engulfing (+60%), Only Damaged By Burning or Corrosion (+20%), and Sticky (+20%). Range is often limited; if so, add Reduced Range (-10%/level). These attacks bind a single foe. To affect more than one target by blanketing the area with webbing, quicksand, creeping vines, etc., add Area Effect (+50%/level). If the effect endures, and affects anyone who blunders into it, take Persistent (+40%), too. And if the persistent effect forms a vision-impeding barrier (like dense spider webs), stack Wall (+30% or +60%) on top of that.

Binding assumes external restraints. If the victim is frozen by magical or psionic control, transfixed by divine will, paralyzed by venom or a superscience weapon, etc., that’s an Affliction with a suitable enhancement – most often Attribute Penalty (DX) or Paralysis.

Powers that project force fields – Gravity, Psychokinesis, etc. – almost always include Binding. It makes sense for powers that can summon matter, too; e.g., Water power might encase the target in ice or turn dry earth into muck. Talent adds to rolls to hit, but not to ST rolls made for the Binding. For that, buy a higher level of Binding!

Engulfing: Your attack pins the target. He cannot move his limbs or speak; his only options are to use purely mental abilities, to attack the Binding with an Innate Attack, or to try to break free using ST (not Escape skill). If he tries to break free and fails, he is only allowed a repeated attempt every 10 seconds - and on a 17 or 18, he becomes so entangled that he cannot escape on his own! +60%.

Only Damaged By X: Only specific damage types can damage your Binding. +30% for one of burning, corrosion, crushing, or cutting; +20% for any two; +10% for any three.

Sticky: Your Binding is treated as Persistent, but only affects those who actually touch the original target of your attack. +20%.

Unbreakable: Your Binding cannot be destroyed. The only way to escape is to break free. +40%.

Standard Binding leaves the victim’s head poking out and gives him sufficient room to breathe. Certain types of Binding would logically suffocate or squeeze the target, but this isn’t automatic. To add such effects, buy one of these enhancements:

Constricting: Your Binding actively constricts the victim. Until he breaks free, the Binding attacks him each turn with a Constriction Attack, at a ST equal to that of the Binding. +75%.

Suffocating: Your Binding cocoons the target or blocks his breathing passages. While it’s in place, the victim cannot breathe. If he runs out of breath before he breaks free (see Holding Your Breath), he starts to suffocate; see Suffocation. +75%.

Environmental: Your Binding manipulates an existing condition or object in the environment, and won't work in its absence. This is worth from -20% (victim must be touching the ground) to -40% (victim must be standing in dense vegetation), at the GM's option.

One-Shot: You cannot layer your Binding to increase its ST. -10%.

You are attuned to a god, demon lord, great spirit, cosmic power, etc. This can take various forms, but in all cases, you will lose this advantage if you fail to act in accordance with your deity's rules and values.

Blessed: You sometimes receive wisdom from your deity. After communing with your god (meditating, praying, etc.) for at least one hour, you see visions or witness omens that have some bearing on future events. Work out the details with your GM; for instance, the God of Fire might require you to stare into flames for an hour, after which you hear a voice in the flames. The GM rolls secretly against your IQ to determine whether you gain any useful insight from this experience. The ritual is fatiguing, however; at the end of the hour, you lose 10 FP. As a side benefit, followers of your deity sense your special status and react to you at +1. 10 points.

Very Blessed: As above, but your IQ roll to interpret visions is at +5 and the reaction bonus from your god's followers is +2. 20 points.

Heroic Feats: Your blessing gives you the ability to perform a particular heroic feat. Once per game session, you may add 1d to one of ST, DX, or HT (other traits, such as Basic Move, are at the GM's discretion). You must specify which trait is boosted when you buy the advantage. This bonus lasts 3d seconds, after which your abilities revert to normal and you suffer any penalties amassed during the 'heroic' period. (For instance, if your blessing boosts HP and you are reduced to -5 x your normal HP but not -5 x your 'blessed' HP, you will die when the bonus HP wear off unless you receive some sort of healing.) 10 points.

The GM may choose to allow other blessings as well.

Despite its name, Blessed doesn’t have to be a divine gift. The forces that inform the user might be demons, his genius (guardian spirit), or shades from the future. To convert Blessed into a generic, paranormal information-gathering ability, keep the requirements for divination (1 hour, 10 FP, and an IQ roll) but drop both the obligation to serve a deity and the reaction bonus from the faithful. This has no effect on point cost.

Compare Oracle, which has no FP cost, and Precognition, which is much more controllable (and a better choice for superscience abilities).

Blessed suits any power that admits the existence of supernatural entities that are better informed than mortals. Talent gives a bonus to the IQ roll to use the ability.

Prerequisites: Blade! at 20+, Combat Reflexes, and Danger Sense; or Blade! at 17+ and Enhanced Time Sense.

Whenever you attack with Blade!, your target suffers -1 per level (up to four levels) to their rolls to defend against it, just as if you had performed a Deceptive Attack (p. B369). Furthermore, once per game session, per level, before your target rolls their defense against your attack, you may declare that you also performed a Feint and further penalize their defense rolls by one-half your margin. For example, if you succeed by 4, you give them a further -2 to their rolls to defend.

Starting at level 2, if your Basic Speed exceeds that of your target, you may use your first turn of the combat to Feint at +1 per level after the first (up to +3). The attack that follows is at +1 to damage per level after the first (again, up to +3). This works only once per combat.

Advantages: Serendipity (Aspected, Only for declaring you performed a Deceptive Attack, -80%) [3/level].

Perks: Unique Technique (Blurred Attack) [1]. Additional levels add both Sneaky Strike* (Attack) [1/level] and Sneaky Strike* (Damage) [1/level].

Techniques: Blurred Attack (Blade!) (H) Skill+0 [5]. Additional levels add a further -4, giving another -1 to the target’s active defenses, for +4 points per level.

* This perk gives a bonus equal to its level (up to +3) to Feint or damage on the attack immediately following a Feint against your target as long as your Basic Speed is higher than theirs. Both effects stack with other abilities.

You can travel by swinging on vines, tree branches, ropes, chandeliers, etc. You get +2 to Climbing skill, and can move at half your Basic Move while brachiating.

You are adept at holding your breath. Each level doubles the length of time you can do so (see Holding Your Breath). Normal humans may not take this advantage - to be a world-record diver, learn Breath Control. Nonhumans and supers can combine this advantage with Breath Control!

You subtract five yards from a fall automatically (treat this as an automatic Acrobatics success - don't check again for it). In addition, a successful DX roll halves damage from any fall. To enjoy these benefits, your limbs must be unbound and your body free to twist as you fall.

Unmodified Catfall represents the ability to twist in midair in order to land softly. This might be inborn or the result of secret acrobatic techniques. With suitable modifiers, it can represent other fall-breaking measures, from parachutes or retrorockets to super-powered gravity control.

Any power that can lower gravity or density, or justify Flight, might include Catfall. For Gravity, Psychokinesis, etc., add the Feather Fall enhancement. Those who have chi powers can use unmodified Catfall to simulate “body lightening” (karumijutsu). Talent adds to DX rolls to halve damage in all cases.

Feather Fall: You always enjoy the benefits of Catfall, even if bound and dropped on your head. +20%.

Parachute: You have a natural parachute, such as wings or skin flaps. This works like unmodified Catfall for falls that take two seconds or more, but deploys too slowly to affect shorter falls (distances of 6 ¥ g yards or less). Your parachute needs open air in a radius equal to your height to function; it’s worthless if falling down a narrow passage, and is of no use in “very thin” or thinner atmospheres. -30%.

You can change your surface pattern to blend into your surroundings. In any situation where being seen is a factor, you get +2 per level to Stealth skill when perfectly still, or +1 per level if moving. Clothing reduces this bonus to +1 per level when you are motionless, with no bonus if you are moving (unless the clothing is, in the GM's opinion, camouflaged relative to your current environment).

Chameleon does not normally help in the dark or against someone relying upon senses other than sight. However, you can specify that your ability is effective against a particular visual or scanning sense (e.g., Infravision or Radar) instead of normal vision.

This ability is suitable not only for natural chameleons but also for illusionists of all stripes and those with built-in ultra-tech camouflage.

Those who can actually alter their body should take Morph, while those who can disappear completely will find Invisibility more effective.

Any kind of body-alteration or illusion power might include Chameleon. Talent adds a further bonus to Stealth skill rolls to avoid being seen

Extended: Your ability affects more than one visual or scanning sense. Each sense beyond the first is +20%.

Controllable: You can consciously select your surface pattern. The effects are mainly aesthetic, but there’s a useful side benefit. You can assume a high-visibility pattern that gives +2 per level to your attempts to signal others and distract enemies, and to others’ rolls to spot you. This is mutually exclusive with Always On. +20%.

Dynamic: Your surface pattern adapts instantly to new surroundings and corrects for “motion blur.” You get your full Stealth bonus (+2 per level) when moving. +40%.

Always On: You cannot turn this ability off. Strangers react at -1; the flickering effect is irritating. -10%.

You can become a conduit for the spirit world, allowing spirits to speak through you. To do so, you must enter a trance, achieved through one minute of concentration and a Will roll (at +2 if you have Autotrance). You are unaware of the world around you while you are in this state.

Once you have entered your trance, any spirit in the immediate vicinity can enter your body and use it to speak or write messages. The GM controls what the spriit does or says. The spirit answers questions put to it by others, but it is not bound to tell the truth.

This is a minor form of possession: the spirit can use your body only to communicate. However, if it has the Possession ability, it is considered to be touching you, and can attempt full possession while you are in a trance. You are considered 'wary', and thus get +5 to resist.

Channeling normally lets the user serve as a conduit to the spirit world, but the GM may permit variant forms that enable contact with the dream world, the past, parallel universes, cyberspace, etc., instead. Each form of Channeling is a separate advantage.

To speak with spirits, take Medium. Those who experience possession by a spirit that grants superhuman capabilities should take an Alternate Form (see Shapeshifting) – possibly with the Uncontrollable limitation – that represents their possessed self.

Channeling suits almost any supernatural power. Talent adds to Will rolls to enter the trance and resist Possession (or other mental attacks) by channeled entities.

Aware: You remain aware of the world when using your ability, and can move and act normally while spirits speak through you. +50%.

Channeling often requires a ritual or séance to use. If so, add Preparation Required. Another limitation is common in many settings:

Specialized: You can only channel one specific class of spirits. Possibilities include angels, demons, elementals, faerie, ghosts, and anything else the GM wishes to allow. -50%.

You have a natural ability to impress and lead others. Anyone can acquire a semblance of charisma through looks, manners, and intelligence - but real charisma is independent of these things. Each level gives +1 on all reaction rolls made by sapient beings with whom you actively interact (converse, lecture, etc.); +1 to Influence rolls (see Influence Rolls); and +1 to Fortune-Telling, Leadership, Panhandling, and Public Speaking skills. The GM may rule that your Charisma does not affect members of extremely alien races.

You belong to a social group that encourages its members to assist one another. When you are away from home, you may call on other members of this group for food, shelter, and basic aid.

The point cost depends on the extent and wealth of the group. A single friend with a house in another city is worth 1 point; a small family, 2 points; a society of merchants along an important trade route, 5 points; and a vast alliance of wealthy figures, such as 'every merchant in the world,' 10 points. In the appropriate situation, members of the group should be easy to find (14 or less after 1d-1 hours of searching), but the chance of meeting one at random is small (6 or less to meet one in a small crowd in an appropriate place).

Claim to Hospitality mainly saves the cost and trouble of finding lodging while 'on the road' (although if you are wealthy, you might be expected to give gifts to your hosts), but there are side benefits. Members of the group are friendly to each other (+3 reactions), and may provide advice, introductions, and small loans, if asked. The level of assistance might occasionally approach that of Contacts. If you expect anything more, though, buy Allies or Patrons.

This advantage cuts both ways. If you take it, you can be asked, when at home (at the GM's whim), to provide NPCs with exactly the same sort of hospitality you claim while away. This may become an adventure hook! If you refuse such aid, you will eventually get a bad name and lose this advantage.

You can displace all of your ranged senses (for humans: sight, hearing, and smell) to a point outside your body. This 'viewpoint' must be a specific location within 10 yards. You can modify this range with Increased Range or Reduced Range. You can double your range temporarily by spending 2 FP per minute.

To initiate Clairsentience, pick the desired viewpoint (which can be inside something) and its facing, concentrate for one minute, and then make an IQ roll. If the viewpoint is out of sight, you must specify distance and direction, and the roll is at -5.

On a success, you can use your ranged senses as if you were physically present at the viewpoint (this means you cannot sense the environment around your body!) Your vision ignores darkness penalties completely. You cannot see through solid objects, but if your viewpoint were inside (for example) a closed chest, you would see what was inside despite the lack of light. If you are using or subjected to range-dependent abilities (e.g., spells), calculate all ranges from your body, not your viewpoint. You can maintain Clairsentience for as long as you like.

On failure by 1, your senses go to some other viewpoint of the GM's choosing. On any greater failure, nothing happens at all. Critical failure cripples your ability for 1d hours.

To return your displaced senses, move them elsewhere, or change their facing (usually only important for vision), you must concentrate for one second and make another IQ roll. However, a viewpoint inside a moving object (e.g., a car) will move with that object with no special concentration on your part. You can only have one viewpoint at a time - you cannot put hearing in one location, vision in another, etc.

With suitable modifiers, Clairsentience can emulate almost any kind of remote viewing. In a “realistic” setting, most psychics should have Clairaudience (-30%) or Clairvoyance (-10%), as few claim to have full Clairsentience. On the other hand, high levels of Increased Range are appropriate – global range (Increased Range 19, +190%) appears to be commonplace among remote viewers.

Supers, gods, and other high-powered types know no such limits. They’re likely to have one or more of the powerful special enhancements below.

Use Detect for abilities that let the user know “something is there” but little else. Penetrating Vision is a better choice for the hero who can see through distant objects. Scanning Sense – notably Para-Radar – is more suitable for extrasensory abilities with pseudo-scientific explanations.

This advantage (often limited with Clairaudience, Clairosmia, or Clairvoyance) is one of the definitive abilities of ESP. With the Projection enhancement, it’s also a perfect fit for Astral Projection. Modifiers can adapt it to many other supernatural powers – notably spirit powers. Talent adds to IQ rolls to activate the ability and shift viewpoints, and to all Sense rolls to spot things while using this ability.

Projection Projection – an enhancement for Clairsentience, a limitation for Insubstantiality, Jumper, and Warp – makes it possible to send forth a projection while the body lies unconscious in the physical world. The projection’s visibility and potency depend on the underlying advantage, but a few rules always apply.

Most importantly, the body isn’t in suspended animation. If the projector must eat and drink, he’ll suffer starvation or dehydration if he stays away for too long, unless he arranges for artificial feeding. (The GM can always let projections take sustenance – spirit energy, astral food, or whatever – that satisfies these needs, if it suits the setting.) If the projector must breathe, his comatose body needs air, too.

Anything that can injure or fatigue the body has its usual effects while the projector is away. Similarly, lack of sleep, attacks enhanced with Affects Insubstantial, and so on affect the projection. All HP and FP losses come out of the same pool, regardless of which form suffers them. The projection suffers any negative effects: shock, stunning, etc. If the projection would become “unconscious,” it vanishes instead. The mind snaps back to the body, which remains unconscious until it recovers.

If death results, consequences depend on which form suffered the killing injury. If this was the projection, the projector’s personality and mind are gone, but his body may survive as a mindless husk; use the Mortal Wounds rules (p. B423), but the victim can never awaken. If the body died, the projector gets a Will-15 roll, modified by Talent, at the moment of death. Success means he swaps his projection ability for the Astral Entity meta-trait (p. B263) and becomes a “ghost” in the realm his projection was in. Failure means he’s just dead.

Projected Form: These rules also apply to Alternate Form with Projected Form. However, both forms are physical, and if either dies, both do. If HP or FP differ, use the unconscious body’s scores and scale all losses in projected form proportionally; e.g., if a man with 10 HP has 20 HP as a beast, and loses 8 HP in beast form, he marks off 4 HP.

Compartmentalized Mind: Projectors with this trait send out all instances of their mind when they project. They can’t “leave behind” a mind to control their body. To get two conscious bodies, take Duplication.

Aware: You can sense the environment around your body while using your ability. You can still only pay attention to one set of senses. At the start of each turn in combat, state whether you’re giving priority to your natural senses or your remote ones. Concentrating to move or change the facing of your displaced senses automatically gives them priority, unless you also have Second Nature (below). All tasks that depend on the senses you aren’t prioritizing – including attack rolls, defense rolls, and Sense rolls – are at -4. +50%.

Projection: You don’t merely send your senses out of body . . . you send out your consciousness. Your body falls unconscious unless you also have Aware. Your projected self is only vulnerable to spells, mental abilities, Maledictions, etc. See Projection (box) for other rules. +0% if you can only affect the insubstantial world (a new capability that balances leaving your body unconscious, not just insensible); +140% if you can use spells, mental abilities, and Maledictions on the material world from your viewpoint, too. If others can see your projection, take Visible as well.

Second Nature: Your ability is reflexive. You can initiate it as a free action and change viewpoints as quickly as you can shift your gaze. You still need to concentrate for a minute and make an IQ-5 roll if your desired viewpoint is out of sight, with the usual bad effects on a failure. This enhancement is cheaper than Reduced Time, but only applies to Clairsentience. +70%.

Clairaudience: Only your sense of hearing is displaced. -30%.

Clairosmia: Only your sense of smell is displaced. -60%.

Clairvoyance: Only your sense of sight is displaced. -10%

ESP: Your ability is part of the ESP psi power. -10%.

Fixed Range: You cannot double your range by spending 2 FP. This does not prevent you from doing so with extra effort, stunts, etc. -5%.

Normal Sight: You cannot see in absolute darkness, and you suffer lesser darkness penalties normally (though Night Vision will offset them). This is incompatible with Clairaudience or Clairosmia. -20%.

Visible: Your senses have a visible manifestation - for instance, a floating face. -10%.

You have claws. This advantage modifies all your hands and feet; there is no discount for claws on only some of your limbs. There are several variations:

Blunt Claws: Very short claws, like those of a dog. Add +1 per die to the damage you inflict with a punch or kick; e.g., 2d-3 becomes 2d-1. 3 points.

Hooves: Hard hooves, like those of a horse. Add +1 per die to the damage you inflict with a kick, and give your feet (only) +1 DR. 3 points.

Sharp Claws: Short claws, like those of a cat. Change the damage you inflict with a punch or kick from crushing to cutting. 5 points.

Talons: Longer claws - up to 12” long. Change the damage you inflict with a punch or kick from crushing to your choice of cutting or impaling (choose before you roll to hit). 8 points.

Long Talons: Huge claws, like sword blades extending from your body! Treat these as Talons, but damage is +1 per die. 11 points.

Prerequisites: Trained by a Master and Iron Hands.

Some martial artists turn their fists into lethal weapons by pounding on sides of meat or car doors. Represent this with Blunt Claws [3], the sole effect of which is +1 per die to punching damage.

Swing Damage: Applied to Talons or Long Talons, allows them to do Swing/Cutting or Thrust/Impaling damage. +50%.

You are an ordained priest of a recognized religion. You enjoy a number of privileges that a layman lacks, notably the authority to preside over weddings, funerals, and similar ceremonies. This gives you a +1 reaction bonus from co-religionists and those who respect your faith, and entitles you a use a title - Father, Sister, Rabbi, etc.

Remember that not all clerics are “good”! Aka'Ar, high priest of the unholy Cult of Set, is also a vested priest. The blessings and marriages he performs are as meaningful to his followers as those of a vicar are to his parish. And - if Set so wills - Aka'Ar can perform exorcisms as potent as those of a Christian priest, if not more so. After all, Aka'Ar has a better working knowledge of demons…

Clerical Investment is purely social in nature. It does not confer miraculous powers. If you wish to wield divine power by proxy, take Blessed, Power Investiture, or True Faith.

Clerical Investment includes Religious Rank 0. If you want more influence within your church, buy up your Rank.

You can walk or crawl on walls and ceilings. You can stop at any point and stick to the surface without fear of falling. Neither feat requires a roll against Climbing skill, provided the surface is one you can cling to. Move while clinging is half your Basic Move.

If you are falling and try to grab a vertical surface to break your fall, the GM must first decide whether there is anything in reach. If there is, make a DX roll to touch the surface, and then make a ST roll at -1 per 5 yards already fallen. If you succeed, you stop your fall. Otherwise, you continue to fall - but you may subtract 5 yards from the height of the fall thanks to the slowing effect of the failed Clinging attempt. Variations in gravity affect these distances; e.g., in 0.5G, the ST roll would be -1 per 10 yards.

This advantage is most suitable for natural creatures that cling to surfaces, and for robots and supers that stick to walls and ceilings using adhesives, magnetism, suction, etc. Realistic Clinging for human-sized and larger characters calls for the Requires Low Gravity limitation (below) – but supers are free to ignore this.

Flight with the -25% level of Low Ceiling better models the abilities of those who glide along surfaces without touching them. Individuals who rely on exceptional balance and strength of limb to make seemingly impossible climbs are more likely to have Brachiator and Super Climbing.

Clinging is often mediated by some kind of attractive force, making it suitable for such powers as Psychokinesis, Gravity, and Magnetism (with the Magnetic limitation). An equally common explanation is the ability to form a bond with a particular substance. This requires the Specific limitation (p. 112), and is appropriate for elemental powers – Earth power in particular. Talent adds to all ST, DX, and skill rolls made to negotiate obstacles or stop a fall.

Attraction: You can cling to a surface with any part of your body – you don’t need to assume a crawling posture. You can walk “upright” along a vertical surface, leaving your arms free, or even hang from the top of your head or your back in order to use all of your limbs. +25%.

Specific: You can only cling to a particular substance. Common materials, such as brick, metal, rock, or wood, are -40%; uncommon materials, such as adobe, ice, or rubber, are -60%; absurd materials, such as chocolate, are -80%.

Requires Low Gravity: Your ability doesn’t function in gravity fields over a certain, maximum strength. For humans, this is typically 0.6G. -5% per 0.1G under 1G (-5% for 0.9G, -10% for 0.8G, and so on – down to -50% for 0G).

You have extraordinary reactions, and are rarely surprised for more than a moment. You get +1 to all active defense rolls, +1 to Fast-Draw skill, and +2 to Fright Checks. You never 'freeze' in a surprise situation, and get +6 on all IQ rolls to wake up, or to recover from surprise or mental 'stun.' Your side gets +1 on initiative rolls to avoid a surprise attack - +2 if you are the leader.

Combat Reflexes gives you a finer perception of time, allowing you to hone your defenses, move a little faster, and process threat information fast enough to avoid being completely surprised by a rapidly unfolding combat situation or uncanny events. It is often taught using realistic training techniques.

Combat Reflexes is included in Enhanced Time Sense. If you have ETS, you cannot also take Combat Reflexes.

Any time you start to do something the GM feels is STUPID, he will roll against your IQ. A successful roll means he must warn you: “Hadn't you better think about that?” This advantage lets an impulsive player take the part of a thoughtful character.

Common Sense usually represents practical wisdom, but there are other possibilities. Digital Minds with extensive databases of past experiences, or the ability to think many steps ahead, might enjoy the same benefits. More dramatically, this trait could represent divine guidance – after all, advice given to the player by the GM comes from a Higher Power from the character’s point of view.

Those who are good at avoiding incorrect decisions as opposed to stupid ones have Intuition. “Correct” isn’t automatically the same thing as “smart”!

Common Sense could be psionic: the ability to draw upon the collective wisdom of others fits Telepathy, while the capacity to see enough of the future to know the outcome of one’s actions suits ESP. It might represent divinely imparted wisdom instead, making it appropriate for a divine power. Those with moral powers may receive similar guidance from their “moral compass.” Talent adds to IQ rolls to use this ability.

Conscious: Not only does the GM warn you when you’re about to do something stupid . . . you can ask him to suggest what would be smart in your current situation. He’ll roll secretly against your IQ; the better the roll, the better the advice. +50%.

Your mental coordination gives you, in effect, more than one mind. Each mind - or 'compartment' - functions independently and at full capability. Your compartments are identical, but hypnotism, magic, psionics, and the like affect them separately (e.g., one compartment could be hypnotized without affecting any of the others).

This advantage does not allow your body to perform more than one task. A normal character may select one maneuver on his turn in combat. This may be physical or mental. Each level of Compartmentalized Mind adds one extra mental maneuver to this allotment. For instance, Compartmentalized Mind 1 would let you perform one mental maneuver and one physical maneuver (e.g., Concentrate on a spell and Attack) or two mental maneuvers (e.g., Concentrate on two spells), but never more than one physical maneuver - for that, see Extra Attack.

If one compartment is under external influence, roll a Quick Contest of Will to see whether it gains control of the body. The compartment currently in control of the body rolls at +1. Battling compartments may attempt to use mental powers on each other. Treat them as completely separate minds for this purpose, each with your IQ, Will, and mental abilities (such as Mind Shield).

This advantage is not appropriate as a psionic ability (i.e., it should never take a power modifier, require Talent or a skill, etc.), but psis will find it useful as a standalone advantage. It is the only way to model psychics who can focus on more than one psi ability simultaneously. As such, it can make them very powerful; GMs may wish to forbid it in gritty campaigns while making it a requirement in cinematic games (especially for TK users).

Each “compartment” wields psi independent of the others. Penalties for multiple feats and repeated attempts (p. 6) only apply to the compartment that incurs them. If one fails to pick up a thug, another can try it at no penalty. Similarly, since a psi with TK Grab 15 (BL 45 lbs.) can lift a maximum of 360 lbs., each compartment can lift up to that amount – with Compartmentalized Mind 3, he could lift four separate 360 lb. objects or a single 1,440 lb. one. (Remember to add together the BLs, not the power level, as per p. B353.)

Unlike Extra Attack, this advantage gives you additional mental maneuvers even when you’re doing something else. In some games, this is not appropriate – psis may be capable of amazing feats, but only when concentrating exclusively on their powers. The Mentalism limitation below represents this.

Fighting mages may train their minds so that they can concentrate on a spell even while engaged in melee combat.

Limited: “Limited, One Spell” is worth -30%, provided that you know more than one spell. “Limited, One College” is worth -20%, provided that you know spells in more than one college. “Limited, Magic Only” is -10% if you also have Divine, Spirit, or Chi abilities, or -5% otherwise. (See Powers and Power Sources on p. 24 for additional details about various power sources.)

If you know more than one psi ability, “Limited, One Ability” is -30%. If you have abilities in more than one power, “Limited, One Power” is worth -20%. “Limited, Psi” is worth -10% if you also know spells, chi powers, etc., otherwise it is worth -5% as it still prevents you from taking an Evaluate maneuver, making Observation rolls, etc., with your maneuvers.

Mental Separation Only: You do not get extra mental maneuvers. This advantage only helps to protect you against mental intrusions. This is incompatible with Limited, Mentalism, and No Mental Separation. -80%.

Mentalism: This advantage only helps you when you take a Concentrate maneuver. If you Attack, Move, etc., you do not get additional mental actions. -10%.

No Mental Separation: You can concentrate on extra tasks, but gain no special protection against mind-control attacks. Your compartments are just subconscious parts of the same mind. If one compartment is taken over, they all are. -20%.

Two variations on this advantage are available for vehicles built as characters:

Controls: Each level buys one set of controls. Controls let an operator perform his own physical or mental maneuvers using your abilities (e.g., Innate Attack or Radar), as per the rules for [:p467|vehicular combat]. The operator directs all actions of an IQ 0 vehicle with this advantage. Physical limits still apply; for instance, a vehicle can make no more attacks than it has ready weapons. Resolve conflicts between operators by rolling a Quick Contest of vehicle operation skill. 25 points/level.

Dedicated Controls: As Controls, but each set of controls handles a specific task; e.g., 'tail gunner.' The person manning them can't operate anything else. 10 points/level.

Your musculature is optimized for crushing your opponents - whether by 'hugging' like a bear or constricting like a python. To use this ability you must first successfully grapple your intended victim, whose Size Modifier cannot exceed your own. On your next turn, and each successive turn, roll a Quick Contest: your ST vs. your victim's ST or HT, whichever is higher. If you win, your victim takes damage equal to your margin of victory; otherwise, he takes no damage.

In addition to being the classic python ability, this trait is suitable for any being with a “rubber body,” including stretching supers, blob-like aliens, and fantasy monsters that envelop their prey.

Constriction Attack isn’t necessary to grapple and crush (see Choke or Strangle); enough ST or Lifting ST makes the -5 to crush the body without this trait irrelevant. Only Constriction Attack lets you choke a foe “hands free,” however.

This is a logical ability for a bodyalteration power in a supers game, in which case it’s likely to accompany Elastic Skin, Flexibility, Morph, and/or Stretching. Talent adds to ST rolls to crush victims.

Engulfing: You totally engulf your victim. If he doesn’t break free between when you grapple him and when you start to crush him, he’s pinned; see Pin. This pin is completely “hands free.” Victims with abilities such as Innate Attack and Spines can hit you automatically while engulfed, however. If so, you get no active defense. +60%.

You have a network of Contacts (see Contacts, below) placed throughout a particular organization or social stratum. You must specify a corporation, criminal syndicate, military unit, police department, or similar organization, or the underworld, merchants, upper class, etc. of one particular town. Broader Contact Groups are not allowed.

You may request information from a Contact Group exactly as you would an individual Contact, using the same rules for frequency of appearance, effective skill, and reliability. The difference is that a Contact Group's effective skill reflects ability at an entire category of skills - e.g., 'business skills' if your Contact Group is a corporation, or 'military skills' if your Contact Group is a military unit - as opposed to one specific skill. You must define this area of knowledge when you purchase the Contact Group, and it must be appropriate to the organization.

The GM rolls against the group's effective skill when you request any information that it could reasonably provide. However, this is an abstract success roll, not a roll against a specific skill. For example, a police Contact Group could provide ballistics comparisons, criminal profiles, legal advice, police records, and introductions to criminals. It would not specifically use Forensics, Criminology, Law, Administration, or Streetwise skills for this, but the information provided might be appropriate to any of these 'police skills.'

To determine the point cost of a Contact Group, select its effective skill, frequency of appearance, and reliability level just as you would for a simple Contact, then multiply the resulting cost by 5.

You have an associate who provides you with useful information, or who does small (pick any two of 'quick', 'nonhazardous', and 'inexpensive') favors for you. The point value of a Contact is based on the skill he uses to assist you, the frequency with which he provides information or favors, and his reliability as a person.

First, decide on the type of Contact you have. He might be anything from a wino in the right gutter to a head of state, depending on your background. What is important is that he has access to information, knows you, and is likely to react favorably. (Of course, offering cash or favors is never a bad idea; the GM will set the Contact's 'price'.)

Next, choose the useful skill your Contact provides. This skill must match the Contact's background; e.g., Finance for a banker or Forensics for a lab technician. Since the GM rolls against this skill when you request aid from your Contact, you should select a skill that can provide the results you expect. If you want ballistics comparisons, take a Contact with Forensics, not Finance!

After that, select an effective skill level. This reflects the Contact's connections, other skills, Status, etc. It need not be his actual skill level (the GM will set this, if it matters). For instance, the president of a local steel mill might have business-related skills of 12-14, but his effective skill might be 18 because of his position in the company. This skill level determines the Contact's base cost:

Add 1 point to these costs for Contacts who can obtain information using supernatural talents (ESP, magical divination, etc.) This is common for spirits, wizards, etc.

In a cinematic campaign, the GM may allow a new version of this advantage.

Contacts!: This is essentially a wildcard (p. B175) version of Contacts. It differs from the standard version in that the point cost is tripled, and the Contact provides a wildcard skill instead of a normal one. The Contact can provide any sort of help that has a plausible relationship to his area of expertise.

Select a frequency of appearance, as explained under Frequency of Appearance, and apply its multiplier to the base cost of the Contact. When you wish to reach your Contact, the GM rolls against his frequency of appearance. On a failure, the Contact is busy or cannot be located that day. On a 17 or 18, the Contact cannot be reached for the entire adventure! On a success, the GM will roll against the Contact's effective skill once per piece of information or minor favor you request.

No Contact may be reached more than once per day, even if several PCs share the same Contact. If you have several questions to ask, you should have them all in mind when you first reach your Contact. The Contact answers the first question at his full effective skill. Each subsequent question is at a cumulative -2. Don't overuse your Contacts!

A Contact can never supply information outside his area of knowledge. Use common sense. Likewise, the GM must not allow a Contact to give information that short-circuits an important part of the adventure.

You must explain how you normally get in touch with your Contact. Regardless of frequency of appearance, you cannot reach your Contact if those channels are closed.

Contacts are not guaranteed to be truthful. Reliability multiplies the Contact's point cost as follows:

Completely Reliable: Even on a critical failure on his effective skill roll, the Contact's worst response will be, “I don't know.” On an ordinary failure, he can find information in 1d days.

Usually Reliable: On a critical failure, the Contact lies. On any other failure, he doesn't know now, “… but check back in (1d) days.” Roll again at that time; a failure then means he can't find out at all. x2.

Somewhat Reliable: On a failure, the Contact doesn't know and can't find out. On a critical failure, he lies - and on a natural 18, he lets the opposition or authorities (as appropriate) know who is asking questions. x1.

Unreliable: Reduce effective skill by 2. On any failure, he lies; on a critical failure, he notifies the enemy. x1/2 (round up; minimum final cost is 1 point).

Bribery, whether cash or favors, motivates a Contact and increases his reliability level. Once reliability reaches 'usually reliable', further levels of increase go to effective skill; bribery cannot make anyone completely reliable!

A cash bribe should be about equivalent to one day's income for a +1 bonus, one week's income for +2, one month's for +3, and one year's for +4. Favors should be of equivalent worth, and should always be something that you actually play out in the game.

The bribe must also be appropriate to the Contact. A diplomat would be insulted by a cash bribe, but might welcome an introduction into the right social circle. A criminal might ask for cash but settle for favors that could get you into trouble. A police detective or wealthy executive might simply want you to 'owe him one' for later… which could set off a whole new adventure, somewhere down the road.

You may add new Contacts in play, provided you can come up with a good in-game justification. The GM might even turn an existing NPC into a Contact for one or more PCs - possibly in lieu of character points for the adventure in which the PCs developed the NPC as a Contact. For instance, the reward for an adventure in which the party helped solve a bank robbery might be a knowledgeable, reliable police Contact.

The list of all possible Contacts - and their skills - would fill an entire book. Here are just a few examples:

Business. Business owners, executives, secretaries, and even the mailroom flunky can supply information on business dealings. They generally provide a business skill, such as Accounting, Administration, or Finance. A mail boy or typist might have effective skill 12; the president's secretary has skill 15; a senior executive or accountant has skill 18; and the CEO, president, or chairman of the board has skill 21.

Military. This could be anyone from an enlisted grunt to a general. Such Contacts might provide information on troop movements, details on secret weapons or tactics, or top-level strategy. This could take the form of Savoir-Faire (Military), Strategy, or Tactics skill - or perhaps a technical skill, such as Engineer. A Rank 0 soldier would have effective skill 12, a Rank 1-2 NCO would have skill 15, a Rank 3-5 officer would have skill 18, and a Rank 6 or higher officer would have skill 21.

Police. Anyone connected with law enforcement and criminal investigations: beat cops, corporate security, government agents, forensics specialists, coroners, etc. Typical skills are Criminology, Forensics, Intelligence Analysis, and Law. Beat cops and regular private security officers have effective skill 12; detectives, federal agents, and records clerks are skill 15; administrators (lieutenants, captains, Special Agents in Charge, etc.) are skill 18; and senior officers (sheriffs, chiefs of police, District Superintendents, Security Chiefs, etc.) are skill 21.

Street. Thugs, fences, gang members, mobsters, and the like can provide information on illicit activities, local criminal gossip, upcoming crimes, etc. Most provide Streetwise skill. 'Unconnected' crooks (those who are not part of the local criminal organization) have effective skill 12; 'connected' ones are skill 15; mob lieutenants and other powerful criminals are skill 18; and an actual crime lord (e.g., the Don, clan chief, or Master of the Thieves' Guild) has skill 21.

You can shape and move a particular category of matter, energy, or force (your “element”). The higher your level of Control, the larger the quantity you can affect. Cost per level depends on how significant your element is likely to be on an adventure:

Common: An extremely broad or prevalent category such as Earth (including asphalt, brick, ceramic, concrete, and rock, but not purified metals), Fire, Gravity, Light, Metal, Plastic (any manufactured structural material that’s neither Earth nor Metal, including oil-based plastics and rubber), Sound, Water (including steam and ice), or Wood (dead plant matter, but not fossils, oil, etc.). 20 points/level.

Occasional: A broad subcategory of a Common element, such as Ceramics (including glass), Ferrous Metals (iron, nickel, and cobalt – and note that steel is made of iron), Ice, Steam (all hot or cold water vapor), or Stone (brick, concrete, and rock). Most forms of energy are Common, but the GM might allow Infrared, Ultrasonics, and so on at this rarity level. 15 points/level.

Rare: Any relatively specific substance not already given as Common or Occasional, such as Brick, Iron, Paper, or Rubber. 10 points/level.

The GM should price other elements by comparison, and may allow “Very Common” categories (e.g., “All electromagnetic radiation”) for 25 or 30 points/level. Control isn’t available for machinery or living beings; to create animal-, plant-, and machine-control abilities, modify advantages such as Mind Control and Possession. Control over complex processes (e.g., chemical reactions) requires an entire power – not just a single Control ability.

The most important limit on Control is that you can only use it if your element is present. Control does nothing without your element, and doesn’t let you call your element into existence (for that, buy Create). For solids and liquids, you can affect up to 10 x (level squared) lbs. of matter in the form of a single object or amorphous mass. For example, Control 3 (Iron) would let you affect a 90-lb. iron ingot or even 90 lbs. of iron filings in a heap… but against a foe with a 3-lb. sword, 4-lb. helmet, and 18-lb. breastplate, all iron, you could only affect one target, even though the total weight is much less than your limit.

For gases, energy, and forces – and diffuse, airborne solids, like dust clouds – you can affect a circular area with a radius equal to your level in yards. Should height matter, the area is four yards tall. The target item must be continuous. For instance, Control 10 (Fire) would let you control a blaze 10 yards in radius, but not “all candle flames within 10 yards.”

Finally, Control over matter doesn’t work on complex, manufactured artifacts unless they’re made almost entirely of your element. Control (Metal) could affect a sword or a revolver, but not a ray gun with only a few metallic parts.

To control solids or liquids, you must touch the target object or material. This takes a second and requires a successful unarmed melee attack. If someone is wearing or carrying the target item, he may defend against your touch. If your touch succeeds, make an immediate IQ roll to establish control. To control gases, energy, or forces, you must reach into or stand within the desired area of effect. To establish control, take a Concentrate maneuver and make an IQ roll.

If your target is already under someone else’s direct control, roll a Quick Contest. You roll against IQ; they roll against IQ if using Control or Telekinesis, their skill level if using a spell, and so on. You must win to establish control. Likewise, others can overpower your Control by winning a Quick Contest against your IQ.

After establishing control, you can reshape the target. Forming a simple shape (blob, column, sphere, etc.) requires a Concentrate maneuver but no die roll. If the result is meant to be beautiful or functional, though, the GM may deem the effort a long task (see p. B346) and require skill rolls against Armoury, Artist, Machinist, and so on. You can work without tools, but you must know what you’re doing.

You can also cause the target to elongate or flow at a Move equal to your Control level. This requires constant concentration. The target needn’t remain in contact with you, but Control isn’t Telekinesis. You can make a solid or liquid ooze, roll, or seep along the ground or a surface, and even reshape it in ways that defy gravity, but only gas or energy can actually fly through the air – and you can’t “shape” a force at all.

For energy, each level of Control gives the effect of one two-dimensional reflector or insulator with length and width in yards no larger than your Control level. For instance, Control 3 (Light) would let you route light around obstacles as if you had three mirrors up to 3 yards x 3 yards in size, or block light completely as if you had three 3 yard x 3 yard screens.

For a force, each level of Control lets you adjust the force’s strength by ±10% within your radius; e.g., Control 10 (Gravity) could make everything weightless (-100%) or double all weights (+100%), with effects as described in Different Gravity (p. B350). This only affects the gross force on entire objects. To disintegrate things by reducing internal binding forces, buy an Innate Attack.

Control includes the ability to make minor, “cosmetic” changes. For instance, Control (Light) can give a colored cast to everything in the area, and Control (Metal) can clean corrosion off metal and make it gleam. You can produce such effects incidentally when reshaping or moving your element.

When you stop concentrating, you immediately give up control. Stable forms become permanent, while unstable ones collapse instantly.

Defensively, Control over matter lets you move or shape your element to obstruct attacks. This requires a Concentrate maneuver. Such barriers give whatever cover the material normally provides. For instance, Control (Metal) might let you shape a steel table into armor with the DR of steel by making an Armoury roll, while Control (Earth) could stir up a sand cloud, with the usual effects on vision and lasers.

Control over energy or force is too slow to stop damage, but a Concentrate maneuver lets you eliminate -1 per level in combat penalties or add +1 per level to resistance rolls – your choice – for you and any allies in your area of effect, as long as you can explain the effects in terms of your element. For instance, with Control 5 (Light), you could focus available light onto all foes in your area, allowing your side to ignore up to -5 in darkness penalties… or throw up a barrier that gives everyone behind it +5 HT to resist blinding flashes.

Offensively, Control is more limited. By concentrating, you can move an existing hazard – gas, fire, radiation, etc., as befits your element – onto a foe, but this is only as harmful as the underlying substance. Nonhazardous liquids or solids merely impede his movement, like any object of that weight. In all cases, your foe can dodge.

Getting Tricky: If a foe is standing in an area where you control matter, energy, or a force – or if you can move matter or energy onto him – you may inflict combat penalties on him. This requires flexibility on the GM’s part: Control 3 (Sound) might give -3 to Hearing rolls (e.g., to detect a ninja sneaking up), Control 10 (Earth) might cause a mini-earthquake good for -10 to attack rolls, and Control (Gravity) would simply produce the usual penalties that go along with reduced or elevated gravity. Tricks like this require a Concentrate maneuver and an IQ or Tactics roll.

Persistent (+40%) lets the effects of Control endure for 10 seconds after you stop concentrating. Ranged (+40%) allows you to use Control at a distance. You can’t add the Area Effect enhancement, though; to affect more of your element, buy a higher level of Control. Additional enhancements include:

Collective: You aren’t limited to a single object or continuous area. Your ability affects all instances of your element in a circle with a radius equal to your level in yards. You still can’t affect more than 10 x (level squared) lbs. of a solid or liquid. For instance, Control 2 (Metal) with Collective lets you affect up to 40 lbs. of any one metal in a two-yard circle; in the example under Limits of Control, you could affect the sword, helmet, and breastplate. Collective is unnecessary for forces, which already work this way – a fair trade for the fact that you can’t reshape them. +100%.

Natural Phenomena: Your element is a large-scale aspect of nature. On an earthlike world, Oceans and Weather are Common; subcategories such as Currents, Precipitation, Waves, and Winds are Occasional; and phenomena like Hail and Snow are Rare. The GM sets rarity elsewhere. This ability isn’t Create; it only works if the necessary air, water, etc. are present. Area of effect is 0.1 x level miles in radius. If your roll succeeds, every three full levels of Control let you produce effects that give -1 or +1 to rolls your element could hinder or help, relative to the prevailing conditions. You can apply this modifier to Influence rolls (to impress others), Survival rolls, Strategy rolls, and anything else the GM allows. Be sure to describe the effects you’re producing. The GM may overrule you if the rules or common sense suggest that these conditions are outside the range of modifiers you can produce. For instance, Control 10 (Oceans) could roughen or calm seas in a 1-mile radius, for ±3 to die rolls. In rough water that gives -4 to Boating rolls, you could specify any modifier between -1 (a little foam) and -7 (huge breakers). +100%.

Cosmetic: You can only make superficial changes, such as tinting the color of light or putting a shine on metal. You can’t truly move or reshape your element. -80%.

Binding, Obscure, and Temperature Control can produce similar effects without allowing open-ended control. To do damage with an element, use Innate Attack – adding Malediction if the attack affects the element within the victim’s body. Those who can hurl objects around rather than cause them to creep or flow have Telekinesis. Apply Environmental to these abilities if they depend on preexistent materials or conditions. To summon the element, get Create.

Any of the above traits could have a Link with Control. Individuals who can control an element precisely enough to produce several of these effects should consider Modular Abilities.

Control is an obvious match for elemental powers. It’s also standard for divine and spirit powers associated with gods and spirits that govern elements, and the cosmic powers of these entities. Adding the Natural Phenomena enhancement makes Control suitable for nature-control powers, too. Talent adds to all IQ and skill rolls to establish or use Control.

The GM may allow Control over ubiquitous, abstract elements such as Space and Time. This should cost at least 30 points/level. Detailed rules are beyond the scope of this book, but the GM who wishes to “wing it” can apply ±1 per level to any task he feels the Control could influence (see Control in Combat, p. 91), and then determine the gameworld effects by interpreting this as a modifier normally associated with the element. For instance, Control (Space) 6 might give a range modifier from -6 to +6, which corresponds to a distance distortion between ¥10 and ¥0.1 on the Size and Speed/Range Table (p. B550); Control (Time) 5 might give from -5 to +5 to time-dependent tasks, which the Time Spent (p. B346) rules suggest would be a time distortion between x0.5 and x30.

(see Rank)

You can create an “element” – a specific category of matter or energy – out of nothing. To do so, take a Concentrate maneuver and roll vs. IQ. Success means your element appears. A solid or liquid coalesces in hand or within arm’s reach, while gas or energy appears in the area surrounding you or in an area you’re touching (your choice in both cases). Failure means nothing happens. Critical failure means your element appears, but in a way that’s inconvenient or dangerous – the GM should be creative!

Creating something out of nothing is hard. Each attempt, successful or not, requires 2 FP. There’s also a character point cost for permanent creation (see below).

Your level of Create determines how much of your element you can conjure. Point cost per level is a function of the breadth of your ability, not the rarity of your element:

Large Category: Solid, Liquid, and Gas let you create any matter that’s naturally in that state in your present environment. Organic and Inorganic let you create any material of the appropriate category, in the state it normally takes in your environment. Important options for energy are Electromagnetic Waves (all EM radiation) and Physical Waves (all sound and vibration). 40 points/level.

Medium Category: A broad subset of a single Large category, or the area of overlap between two Large categories, or a specific class of manufactured substances. Acid, Biochemicals, Drugs, Earth, and Metal qualify. Options for energy include Electricity, Sound, Long-Wave EM (radio, microwaves, and far IR), Light (IR, visible, and UV), and Short-Wave EM (far UV, X-rays, and gamma rays). A dramatically important category that includes aspects of matter and energy is Radiation (alpha and beta particles, gamma rays, etc.). 20 points/level.

Small Category: A narrow subset of a Large category, or a broad subset of a Medium category, or one fairly specific material that comes in many varieties. Useful examples include Ferrous Metals (iron, nickel, and cobalt), Fire (any incandescent gas), Fossil Fuels (coal, natural gas, oil, etc.), and Wood – and, for energy, things like Gamma Rays, Infrared, Ultrasonics, and Visible Light. 10 points/level.

Specific Item: A single chemical element or compound, such as Iron, Salt, or Water, or a commonly occurring mixture, such as Air or Brine. You can choose nasty materials such as Plutonium, TNT, and VX Gas, but you won’t necessarily be able to create a useful amount. 5 points/level.

There are strict limits on the amount of matter or energy you can create:

• Solids and liquids can weigh up to 10 x (level squared) lbs. – 10 lbs. at level 1, 40 lbs. at level 2, 90 lbs. at level 3, and so on.
• Gases can fill an area up to one yard in radius per level.
• Energy appears in a quantity sufficient to do 1,000 x (level squared) kJ of useful work, released too gradually to inflict damage. The GM should limit power output to 15 kW or so. To store this energy, you need a battery or equivalent technology.

Created matter (but not energy) is unstable. It vanishes in 10 seconds unless you use character points to “stabilize” it. Each point spent stabilizes a quantity worth 10% of the campaign’s average starting wealth. (This is just the tradeoff used for Trading Points for Money, p. B26.) The GM determines the cash value per pound of matter – a ton of gold costs more to stabilize than a ton of sand.

Points spent to stabilize matter come from your “Creation Pool,” a number of points set aside for the purpose. You can’t apply any modifiers to these points. Points used to stabilize matter are unavailable until reclaimed – which causes the matter to vanish. If the matter is crafted into an object, the item is unmade when the matter vanishes. If the matter is mixed with other materials (e.g., alloyed), you must separate it to reclaim your points; this can be a tedious process. If it’s destroyed or transformed (e.g., eaten), you can’t reclaim your points – they’re gone. You can increase your Creation Pool with unspent points at any time.

If economics are unimportant to the campaign, the GM is free to waive point costs for permanent matter. Alternatively, he can require those with Create to start with Wealth or Independent Income – or a Vow never to use Create to produce wealth.

If your ability lets you create a dangerous element, you can opt to create a minuscule amount in combat without worrying about long-term stability. It just produces its effects and vanishes, like matter or energy projected by an Innate Attack. The following effects are possible, provided your element includes suitable materials:

• Corrosive solids and liquids appear in quantity and concentration sufficient to inflict 1d corrosion damage per level, once, on a single subject. You must immerse a victim in the substance or throw it at him to do damage.
• Poisonous solids and liquids appear in a dosage sufficient to inflict 1d toxic damage per level on one subject. Method of delivery, delay, resistance rolls, cycles, and so on are as usual for the poison (see Poison Examples, p. B439). Damage is total damage, over all cycles.
• Noxious gases fill a circular area with a radius in yards equal to your level, to a height of four yards, for 10 seconds. They affect everyone exposed. Use the rules for noxious solids and liquids (poisonous or corrosive, as appropriate), but total damage is 1 point per level. Convert 4 points or more of damage to dice (see p. B269).
• Fire and hazardous energy (electricity, microwaves, intense sound, etc.) fill an area identical to that for a noxious gas, and inflict 1 point of damage of a suitable type per level each second on anyone who stays in the area for at least a second. Convert 4+ points of damage to dice. DR protects normally. Energy dissipates after 10 seconds, but fires it sets burn for as long as they have fuel, devices it overloads remain broken, and so on – these effects don’t vanish with the energy.
• Radioactive materials work as poisonous ones. Radiation fields use the rules for hazardous energy. All “damage” is in rads.
• Explosives appear in quantity sufficient to cause a blast that inflicts 1 point of crushing damage per level, and vanish if not detonated within 10 seconds.

If the element would cause an effect other than damage – blindness for bright light, deafness for loud sound, etc. – treat it like an Affliction instead. The HT roll to resist is at -1 per level of Create for a single subject, -1 per three full levels for an area.

Energy or matter created as an attack is by definition of a quantity and potency that produces the above effects and then vanishes. Such rapid dispersal is totally unrealistic for substances lethal in microscopic doses . . . but no less realistic than the ability to conjure your element in the first place.

Create lets you conjure anything in your category. This may give access to several of the options above; e.g., Create (Electricity) could charge a battery or fill an area with lightning, while Create (Organic) could produce corrosives, poisons, or explosives. You must specify exactly what you’re creating, and for what purpose, before you roll the dice. If you don’t, the GM decides what happens…

If it isn’t clear which limit applies – or if more than one limit could apply – the GM selects the one that best suits your intentions and the demands of drama.

Create produces bulk matter, not specific shapes, much less machines. To create pre-shaped matter, buy both Create and Control, and connect them with a Link. Such a combination can create machines; this is a long task (see p. B346) that requires skill rolls, as explained for Control.

The GM can bend these rules as needed – but be warned that ignoring Limits on Quantity can unbalance a campaign.

To conjure “essential” elements like those created by the Essential Fire and Essential Water spells in GURPS Magic, add Cosmic, +50%. Ranged (+40%) lets Create work at a distance, but never inside a foe. The GM might even permit attack enhancements for elements useful in combat. Area Effect and Extended Duration are off limits, however. To blanket a wider area, buy more levels of Create. To keep matter around indefinitely, use your Creation Pool. Additional enhancements include:

Destruction: You can destroy your element, subject to the same restrictions on type and quantity described for creation under Limits on Quantity. To destroy something, you must touch it (or stand amidst it, for gas or energy), take a Concentrate maneuver, and pay 2 FP. Then make an IQ roll. Success means the target is gone. You don’t have to spend character points to do this. Destruction only affects inanimate objects. +100% if you can also create your element; +0% if you can only destroy it.

Transmutation: You can convert existing matter or energy into another form. The quantities involved depend on your level. Work out the limits as usual for the initial and final items, and use the smaller of the two. If the product is worth more than what you started with, it’s unstable and will revert to its original form after 10 seconds unless you stabilize it with your Creation Pool – in which case point cost depends on the difference in value. This might be why alchemists can’t transmute large amounts of lead into gold! Transmutation costs 1 FP per use. Otherwise, it works like unmodified Create. +50% per transmutation, which can be within your category or between your category and another of the same size, in one direction. For instance, Create (Metal) could have Metal to Metal, Metal to Earth, or Earth to Metal for +50% apiece; any two for +100%; or all three for +150%. Add -100% if you can only transmute, not create; if so, you can’t also take Destruction.

Those who just want an elemental attack are better off with Innate Attack. To conjure complex objects (e.g., machines), take Snatcher with the Creation enhancement; to create images, use Illusion. If you can create your element with enough precision to replicate all of these abilities and more, consider Modular Abilities (p. 62) instead. Several magic spells work a lot like Create, including Create Air, Create Earth, Create Fire, and Create Water (see pp. B242-253). GURPS Magic offers many other options.

Create is a standard part of elemental powers. There are many possible matches. For instance, Create (Gas) and Create (Air) both suit Air power… and with Destruction at the +0% level, either might suit a Vacuum power, too.

Divine and spirit powers associated with entities that govern elements are also likely to offer Create. Gods themselves frequently have access to many forms of Create as part of their cosmic powers. Powerful wizards might even obtain Create through magical powers.

Talent adds to all IQ rolls to use Create.

You are familiar with a broad spectrum of cultures. When dealing with those cultures, you never suffer the -3 'cultural unfamiliarity' penalty given under Culture. This is definitely a cinematic ability! Point cost depends on the scope of your familiarity:

Cultural Adaptability: You are familiar with all cultures of your race. 10 points.

Xeno-Adaptability: You are familiar with all cultures in your game world, regardless of race. 20 points.

(see Social Background)

Treat most cybernetic implants as equivalent advantages: Infravision for a bionic eye, Damage Resistance for dermal armor, etc. Some implants may qualify for the Temporary Disadvantage limitation; suitable temporary disadvantages include Electrical and Maintenance. These apply to the implant, not to your overall capabilities.

Damage you take is reduced, possibly to zero. Divide penetrating damage by 1 + your level of Damage Reduction (drop all fractional damage).

If you have this advantage at level 10 damage is reduced to zero instead of dividing it, however level 10 Damage Reduction must be combined with a Limited Defense limitation (p. B46).

Limited: Your Damage Reduction applies only to certain forms or damage types. See Limited Defenses (box, p. B46) for details.

You have DR equal to your level of Variable DR times the number of dice of an attack. This costs x10 the normal cost of DR (50 points per level), and you can only purchase up to DR 6 (which gives you DR 6 per die, effective immunity to damage). If you do take DR 6 with this variation you must take either the a Limited Defense or the Penetrating Damage limitation (below).

Example: You have Variable DR 3. Against an attack doing 9d damage you have 3×9=27 DR. Against an attack doing 2d damage this provides only 2×3=6 DR.

Limited: Your Variable Damage Reduction applies only to certain forms or damage types. See Limited Defenses (box, p. B46) for details.

Damage Penetration: -20%/level, up to 4 levels. For each level 1 point/die of damage automatically penetrates your DR. Note that penetrating damage cannot be greater than damage rolled. This limitation can be applied to normal DR too.

Your body itself has a Damage Resistance score. Subtract this from the damage done by any physical or energy attack after the DR of artificial armor (you can normally wear armor over natural DR) but before multiplying the injury for damage type. By default, natural DR does not protect your eyes (or windows, if you are a vehicle) or help against purely mental attacks, such as telepathy.

Normal humans cannot purchase DR at all. Creatures with natural armor can buy DR 1 to 5. Thick skin or a pelt would be DR 1; pig hide, armadillo shell, a heavy pelt, or scales like those of a lizard would be DR 2; rhinoceros hide or a pangolin's armor plates would be DR 3; alligator scales or elephant hide would be DR 4; and a giant tortoise would have DR 5. Robots, supers, supernatural entities, etc. can purchase any amount of DR, subject to GM approval.

Damage Resistance with Force Field (+20%) and Limited, Psi (-20%) affects indirect attacks (e.g., TK Bullet) as well as direct ones. Maledictions and such are not affected without the new modifier below, however.

Many special modifiers are available to change the basic assumptions of this advantage.

Absorption: You can absorb damage and use it to enhance your abilities. Each point of DR stops one point of damage and turns it into one character point that you can use to improve traits (anything but skills) temporarily. You store these points in a 'battery' with capacity equal to DR (e.g., DR 10 gives a 10-point battery.) Once this battery is full, each point of DR will still stop one point of damage, but will not convert it into a character point. You do not have to use stored points immediately, but you cannot reallocate points once used. You lose absorbed points - unused ones first - at the rate of one point per second. You lose enhanced abilities as the points drain away. (Exception: If you are missing HP or FP, you can heal yourself. Restoring one HP drains 2 stored points immediately; restoring one FP drains 3 points. Such healing is permanent. Only HP or FP in excess of your usual scores drain away.) You cannot absorb damage from your own ST or attack abilities. +80% if absorbed points can only enhance one trait (determined when you create your character) or can only heal; +100% if you can raise any trait.

Force Field: Your DR takes the form of a field protected a short distance from your body. This protects your entire body - including your eyes - as well as anything you are carrying, and reduces the damage from attacks before armor DR. Effects that rely on touch (such as many magic spells) only affect you if carried by an attack that does enough damage to pierce your DR. +20%.

Hardened: Each level of Hardened reduces the armor divisor of an attack by one step. These steps are, in order: “ignores DR”, 100, 10, 5, 3, 2, and 1 (no divisor). +20% per level.

Malediction-Proof: Your DR also reduces the damage you take from Innate Attacks with the Malediction enhancement. This must be combined with a version of Limited restricting it to one power source (e.g., psi) or with the +50% defensive version of Cosmic. +50%, or +0% if it only protects against Maledictions.

Reflection: Your DR 'bounces back' any damage it stops at your attacker. The remaining damage affects you normally. The attacker doesn't get an active defense against the first attack you reflect back at him, but gets his usual defenses against subsequent reflected attacks. Reflection only works vs. direct hits! It cannot reflect damage from explosions, fragments, poison gas, or anything else that affects an entire area. This enhancement is mutually exclusive with Absorption. +100%.

Ablative: Your DR stops damage once. Each point of DR stops one point of basic damage but is destroyed in the process. Lost DR 'heals' at the same rate as lost HP (including the effects of Regeneration.) Use this to represent supers who can absorb massive punishment but who lack the mass to justify a large HP score. -80%.

Can't Wear Armor: Your body is designed in such a way that you cannot or will not wear body armor or clothing. -40%.

Directional: Your DR only protects against attacks from one direction. -20% for the front (F); -40% for the back (B), right (R), left (L), top (T), or underside (U). Humanoids may only take this limitation for front and back.

Damage Penetration: Your DR doesn't stop all incoming damage from an attack; a certain percentage penetrates no matter how high your DR. Subtract DR from basic damage normally to figure penetrating damage (pp. B378-379). However, also multiply basic damage by your Penetration multiplier. If this sum is equal to or greater than the calculated penetrating damage increase the penetrating damage to that amount.

Damage Penetration: x0.1, -5%

Damage Penetration: x0.2, -10%

Damage Penetration: x0.3, -20%

Damage Penetration: x0.4, -30%

Damage Penetration: x0.5, -40%

Damage Penetration: x0.6, -50%

Damage Penetration: x0.7, -60%

Damage Penetration: x0.8, -70%

Damage Penetration: x0.9, -80%

You can combine Damage Penetration with Limited Defenses (p. B46), allowing DR to work normally against most types of damage but certain types tend to penetrate. Apply the appropriate Limited Defense limitation on the selected level of Damage Penetration to figure the final limitation value (see Limited Enhancements, page 111).

Example: You have DR 10 which protects fully against all types of damage except Fire/Heat, a minimum of half of which penetrates. Damage Penetration: x0.5 is normally -40%, applying the Limited: Fire/Heat (a Common type) reduces the value of Damage Penetration by -40%, giving a final limitation value of -40% * 0.6 = -24%.

Example: You have DR 4 with Damage Penetration: x0.5. 4 points of damage would normally be stopped completely, but a minimum of 4 * 0.5 = 2 of the base damage automatically penetrates, causing 2 point of penetrating damage. If you take 10 points of basic damage, normally 10 - 4 = 6 points penetrates. Since this is greater than 10 * 0.5 = 5 you take the normal 6 points of penetrating damage.

In all cases round damage up. For example, if you have Damage Penetration: x0.1 and take 3 points the calculated penetration is 3 * 0.1 = 0.3, which rounds up to 1 point of damage.

Flexible: Your DR is not rigid. This leaves you vulnerable to blunt trauma. -20%.

Limited: Your DR applies only to certain attack forms or damage types. See Limited Defenses for details.

Partial: Your DR only protects a specific hit location. This is worth -10% per -1 penalty to hit that body part. For instance, an animal with butting horns and a thick skull might have 'Skull only', for -70%. 'Torso only' is -10%, and also protects the vital organs. When you take this limitation for arms, legs, hands, or feet, the DR protects all limbs of that type. If it only protects one limb, the limitation value doubles (e.g., arms are -2 to hit, so a single arm would be -40%). If you have arms, legs, etc. with different penalties, use the least severe penalty to calculate limitation value.

Semi-Ablative: When an attack strikes semi-ablative DR, every 10 points of basic damage rolled removes one point of DR, regardless of whether the attack penetrates DR. Lost DR 'heals' as for Ablative (and you cannot combine the two). -20%.

Tough Skin: By default, Damage Resistance is 'hard': armor plate, chitin, etc. With this limitation, you DR is merely tough skin. Any effect that requires a scratch (e.g., poison) or skin contact (e.g., electrical shock or Pressure Points skill) affects you if the attack carrying it penetrates the DR of any armor you are wearing - even if it does exactly 0 damage! Your natural DR, being living tissue, provides not protection at all against such attacks. This limitation includes all the effects of the Flexible limitation (see above); you cannot take both. It is mutually incompatible with Force Field. -40%.

You may have multiple 'layers' of DR with different combinations of modifiers. You must specify the order of the layers - from outermost to innermost - when you create your character. You may not change this order once set.

Damage Resistance can represent many defenses that bear little resemblance to one another in the game world, including:

Active Control: Those with powers – especially elemental ones – can frequently use their gifts to divert or negate incoming energies. Such DR is typically Limited. An entire power source is “Very Common” (-20%), while a specific focus is “Common” (-40%). Many such defenses intercept attacks at a distance from the body, justifying Force Field (+20%). Supers often add Absorption (+80% or +100%) or Reflection (+100%), too. In the case of Absorption, use Extended Duration (+20%/level) to slow the rate at which absorbed points trickle away. Damage Tolerance: Some creatures are huge, have redundant organs (or lack organs), or have a reinforced structure that lets them absorb a lot of punishment. To represent this, use Ablative (-80%). This effectively turns DR into Hit Points that don’t result in shock, stunning, knockdown, etc. when lost, but that don’t increase the damage needed to cause crippling or death.

Force Field: A close-fitting sheath of energy or matter projected around the body is a common supernatural and superscience defense, and calls for Force Field (+20%). Add Can’t Wear Armor (-40%) if this repels anything that gets close to the body, and Temporary Disadvantage, No Fine Manipulators (-30%) if it prevents picking things up. A field that only screens against frontal attacks, like a shield, has Directional (-20%). Add Affects Others (+50%) and Area Effect (+50%/level) for a field that covers an area.

Natural Armor: Many natural creatures have a hardened, padded, or thickened outer layer that reduces the impact of attacks. Bone or chitin calls for unmodified DR, a thick fat layer requires Flexible (-20%), and leathery skin has Tough Skin (-40%). If this results in a pointy, irregularly shaped, or bulky body that makes clothing impossible, add Can’t Wear Armor (-40%).

It’s possible to have more than one of these general classes of DR, but remember the “Layered” Defenses rule: the order in which different kinds of DR apply must be fixed at character creation. See Partially Limited Abilities for a related option.

You needn’t apply the same modifiers to every level of a “leveled” advantage like Damage Resistance or Innate Attack. Applying a limitation to only part of the advantage lets you create an ability that’s more potent in situations where the limitation doesn’t interfere. Other modifiers can still apply to the entire ability.

Example: Many characters have DR with a bonus against certain threats. To get this, buy general DR at full cost and bonus DR with Limited; e.g., “DR 5 (10 vs. Fire)” is DR 5 [25] + DR 5 (Limited, Fire, -40%) [15]. As a force field, this would be DR 5 (Force Field, +20%) [30] + DR 5 (Force Field, +20%; Limited, Fire, -40%) [20].

Injury Tolerance works better for those who “soak up” damage and suffer less injury from it. Unliving, Homogenous, and Diffuse in particular can be more effective, point for point, than DR; see Injury to Unliving, Homogenous, and Diffuse Targets. Damage Reduction is often a better deal, too – especially against massive attacks.

Psycho killers, hulking supers, etc. should consider Supernatural Durability and Unkillable as alternatives or adjuncts to DR.

Prerequisite: Trained by a Master.

True masters of the unarmed arts may purchase DR 1-2 (Limited, Crushing, -40%) [3/level]. This protects only against punches, kicks, clubs, falls, collisions, etc. – never blades, bullets, fire, acid, or anything else that isn’t simple blunt force. Heroes who lack Trained by a Master can never gain this advantage, no matter what story they cook up!

Damage Resistance is suitable for nearly any power that can affect the physical world – although it might require several modifiers to make sense. As part of a power, it often has the Force Field special modifier. Talent adds to Power Block attempts (see p. 168).

These defenses are “skin deep.” They protect the user’s body – not his possessions.

Electromagnetic Armor: DR 1 (Hardened 4, +80%; Limited, Shaped Charges, -60%) [6]. Notes: A special layer that uses an electrical discharge to disrupt the armor-piercing jet of shaped-charged warheads. Each level provides DR 1 against these attacks. This DR ignores the (10) armor divisor of such weapons. 6 points/level.

Icy Skin: DR 1 [5] + DR 1 (Heat/Fire, -40%) [3] + Slippery 1 [2] + Temperature Tolerance 1 [1]. Notes: Coats the user in a slick skin of ice that absorbs damage, makes him hard to hold onto, and keeps him cool. Each level (maximum five) gives him DR 1 – doubled vs. heat/fire – and +1 on rolls to break free, and adds HT degrees to the “hot” end of his temperature comfort zone. 11 points/level. Insulated Skin: DR 5 (Limited, Energy, -20%) [20] + Radiation Tolerance 10 [15] + Temperature Tolerance 5 [5]. Notes: An energyresistant skin barrier similar to the “superconducting armor” seen in some science fiction. Each level gives DR 5 vs. energy, divides radiation dosage by 10, and adds 5×HT degrees to the “hot” end of the user’s comfort zone. 40 points/level. Mirrored Skin: DR 2 (Limited, Light, -40%) [6] + Enhanced Dodge 1 (Limited, Light, -40%) [9]. Notes: Gives the user a shiny surface. Any movement can turn a hit by a lightbased attack, such as a laser, into a graze that reflects off harmlessly. Even direct hits hurt less. Each level (maximum six) gives DR 2 and +1 Dodge against light-based attacks. 15 points/level. Super-Toughness: DR 1 (Limited, Crushing, -40%; Tough Skin, -40%) [1]. Notes: The mysterious physical toughness of comic-book supers! Each level gives DR 1 against crushing attacks . . . but follow-up effects on such attacks (poison, electric shock, etc.) work even if the carrier doesn’t penetrate DR. This DR has no effect on bullets, knives, lasers, and other non-crushing attacks. 1 point/level.

These defenses are projected some distance from the user’s body. Most extend just enough to engulf his equipment, but a couple of abilities are useful at longer ranges.

Acoustic Dampening Field: DR 2 (Force Field, +20%; Limited, Sound, -40%) [8] + Silence 1 (Dynamic, +40%) [7]. Notes: Sheathes the user and his gear in an active sound-canceling field. Each level gives +2 to Stealth vs. hearing at all times and DR 2 against sound-based attacks. 15 points/level.

Deflector Screen: DR 5 (Force Field, +20%; Limited, Ranged Physical, -40%) [20] + Enhanced Block 1 [5] + Enhanced Dodge 1 [15] + Enhanced Parry (All) 1 [10]. Notes: A force field that turns projectiles and deflects all attacks enough that they’re easier to avoid. Each level (maximum three) gives DR 5 vs. projectiles and +1 to active defenses. 50 points/level.

Distortion Field: Chameleon 1 (Dynamic, +40%; Extended, Infravision, Radar, Ultravision, +60%) [10] + DR 2 (Force Field, +20%; Limited, Electromagnetic Radiation, -40%) [8]. Notes: This field actively filters all electromagnetic (EM) energy that crosses it in either direction. Each level gives +2 to Stealth to hide from Radar, Infravision, regular vision, and Ultravision, and DR 2 against EM radiation attacks. 18 points/level.

Energy Screen: DR 5 (Force Field, +20%; Limited, Energy, -20%) [25] + Radiation Tolerance 10 (Force Field, +20%) [18] + Temperature Tolerance 5 (Force Field, +20%) [6]. Notes: A field that interferes with all dangerous energy. Identical to Insulated Skin (p. 146), except that it also protects the user’s eyes and equipment. 49 points/level.

Force Shield: DR 1 (Active Defense, -40%; Directional, Front, -20%; Force Field, +20%) [3]. Notes: Lets the user actively interpose a small, mobile force field between himself and any frontal attack. This is a Block defense at DX/2 + 3. A successful block gives DR 1 per level against the attack. 3 points/level.

Reflective Shield: DR 2 (Active Defense, -40%; Directional, Front, -20%; Force Field, +20%; Limited, Ranged, -20%; Reflection, +100%; Requires DX Roll, -10%) [13]. Notes: A force shield that lets the defender bounce ranged attacks back at his attacker. It gives DR 2 per level against frontal attacks – but only if the user blocks at DX/2 + 3. Success lets him attempt a separate DX roll to return the blocked damage to the attacker. 13 points/level.

Wall of Force: Crushing Attack 2d (Area Effect, 2 yards, +50%; No Wounding, -50%; Persistent, +40%; Reduced Range, ×1/10, -30%; Wall, Rigid, +60%) [17]. Notes: Lets the user project a force wall anywhere within 10 yards by taking an Attack maneuver. The barrier is 6 yards long and 1 yard thick, arranged in any shape the user likes. It has DR 6 and 1 HP per level. While it’s “rigid,” it doesn’t damage those who collide with it. 17 points/level.

Wall of Matter: Crushing Attack 2d (Area Effect, 2 yards, +50%; Persistent, +40%; Reduced Range, ×1/10, -30%; Wall, Rigid, +60%) [22]. Notes: Similar to Wall of Force, above, but the barrier is made of ice, metal, stone, or another solid. Those who collide with it do take damage. 22 points/level.

You can't depend on it, but sometimes you get this prickly feeling right at the back of your neck, and you know something's wrong… If you have Danger Sense, the GM rolls once against your Perception, secretly, in any situation involving an ambush, impending disaster, or similar hazard. On a success, you get enough of a warning that you can take action. A roll of 3 or 4 means you get a little detail as to the nature of the danger.

Danger Sense represents the realistic ability to process subconscious sensory input and alert you to the fact that something is wrong. It can warn you of ambushes, sniper fire, booby traps, and muggers lurking in dark alleys. It may be the secret to the survival of many successful gunfighters - more so than Luck, which also impacts activities that aren't life-threatening.

Danger Sense is included in Precognition; if you have the latter trait, you cannot also have Danger Sense.

This is most often a supernatural sensitivity that originates from ESP, finely honed chi, the gods, etc. However, it could represent extremely sensitive mundane senses, or even an enhanced capacity to analyze data and predict risky outcomes (appropriate for Digital Minds).

Those who can truly predict the future should take Precognition, which includes this trait.

Danger Sense is ideally suited to ESP, but fits any supernatural power – chi, divine, magical, spirit, etc. – that provides situational awareness or information. It also suits time-travel powers, since those who can perceive the future well enough to travel there can often sense “ripples” from imminent danger. Talent adds to the Perception roll.

ESP: Your ability is part of the ESP psi power. -10%.

Twice Shy: You have a sixth sense for ambushes, barricades, traps, and other tactical measures deliberately positioned in your path. Whenever you approach such a thing, roll as for Danger Sense. Success warns you before you pass the point of no return, allowing you to seek a safer route. Critical success means you spot such a path! This capability is useless if the threat is natural (meteor, quicksand, etc.), accidental (e.g., an unexploded aircraft bomb), or extremely distant (like inbound artillery). -20%.

Fortune seems to smile on you when you take risks! Any time you take an unnecessary risk (in the GM's opinion), you get a +1 to all skill rolls. Furthermore, you may reroll any critical failure that occurs during such high-risk behavior.

Example: A gang of thugs opens fire on you with automatic weapons. If you crouch down behind a wall and return fire from cover, Daredevil gives no bonuses. If you vault over the wall and charge the gunmen, screaming, it provides all of its benefits!

You can see in absolute darkness using some means other than light, radar, or sonar. You suffer no skill penalties for darkness, no matter what its origin. However, you cannot see colors in the dark.

The exclusion of light, radar, and sonar leaves few realistic explanations for this trait. It almost has to be a kind of “sixth sense,” attributable to ESP, chi sensitivity, cosmic awareness, etc.

Infravision and Night Vision are cheaper, while Hyperspectral Vision has the same price but different benefits and drawbacks. Other ways to function in total darkness include Scanning Sense and Vibration Sense.

Like any vision ability, Dark Vision fits Light and Darkness powers. It’s also a good match for chi powers (as an alternative to Blind Fighting skill, p. B180) and ESP. In all cases, Talent adds to Vision rolls.

Color Vision: You can see colors in the dark. +20%.

Hypersensory: Your brain builds up a “picture” of your surroundings from the input of your senses of hearing, smell, and touch (temperature differences, vibrations, and even electric fields), and from tiny flashes of light due to chemical reactions, static discharges, and cosmic ray impacts. You’re not aware of these things individually, but collectively, they let you see in the dark as if it were daylight, and even spot invisible foes. Each sense you lose – hearing, smell, touch, or vision – gives -2 to Vision rolls (this penalty can’t exceed the current darkness penalty). You’re only truly blind if you lose all four. You’re still limited to the standard human arc of vision unless you have Peripheral Vision or 360° Vision. +40%.

Prerequisites: IQ and Intelligence Analysis at 12+.

Each level of this power-up buys off the cumulative -4 when trying to get information from the same source repeatedly (see Beating a Dead Horse, The Mission, p. 6); this cannot net you a bonus to your roll, however. Moreover, your query doesn’t have to be significantly different, just mostly different. The GM decides what counts, but should be lenient. All champions may take up to two levels of this power-up – and sleuths may have up to four levels.

Perks: Rules Exemption (Repeated Questioning’s hard limit) [1] + Unique Technique (Repeated Questioning) [1].

Techniques: Repeated Questioning (H) Skill+0 [5].

Additional levels buy off another -4 for 4 points.

Prerequisites: Photographic Memory, and IQ 16+ or Perception 18+.

You are exceptionally good at reading people, places, and things. Use the rules for Psychometry (p. B78), except that you read days as minutes, and years as hours. Your ability is not a psychic power; you are just very observant. You can use this trait on people, places, or things. Make an IQ or Perception roll normally if you can see, hear, and smell your subject; roll at -3 if you can’t use one of smell, hearing, or vision. If you can’t use two of these senses, roll at -6. If all three are blocked – or if the GM rules that there are no clues to be found – your ability doesn’t work. If you can taste or touch your subject (and want to), you get +1 per additional sense used.

This ability lets you identify mundane or trivial things such as what your target had for breakfast this morning or how many cats they own (and their breeds). It does not allow you to know their heart’s deepest desire or that they murdered their parents 20 years ago. This ability may provide additional clues, but never so much information as to short-circuit an adventure.

Advantages: Psychometry (Active, -20%; Based on IQ or Perception, Own Roll, +40%; Cosmic, Works on the Living, +50%; Hypersensory, -50%; Short-Range, -20%) [20].

Your fate is preordained. This is considered an advantage if you are destined for great things - although this might not always be clear, and might even be inconvenient at times. For a disadvantageous Destiny, see Disadvantages.

When you choose this advantage, you may only specify its point value. The GM will secretly determine the nature of your Destiny, according to its point value and the dictates of the campaign. You might discover some clues about your Destiny via magical divination or similar techniques, but you are highly unlikely to learn its full extent until it is fulfilled. Note also that a Destiny may change as the campaign develops.

Be aware that this advantage gives the GM absolute license to meddle with your life - the GM must make the Destiny work out! Working out a good Destiny and making sure it comes to pass require considerable ingenuity on the part of the GM. The GM may wish to forbid this advantage if he feels it would send the campaign off the rails.

The point value of the Destiny determines its impact:

Great Advantage: You are fated to achieve greatness within your lifetime. In the end, everyone will know and praise your name! Sooner or later, something will happen to bring this Destiny to fruition. Note that this does not guarantee 'success.' If you choose to jump in front of an assassin's knife during your first game session, the GM might just decide the Destiny is fulfilled… you died a hero! 15 points.

Major Advantage: As above, but to a lesser extent. Alternatively, you might be doomed to die in a particular place or in a particular fashion: at sea, by the hand of an emperor, underground, or whatever. You can be grievously wounded - even maimed - under other circumstances, but you will not die. If you avoid the circumstances that would fulfill your Destiny, knowingly or otherwise, you might find that Fate has a few surprises. The sea might flood your home while you sleep, the general against whom you march might be the future emperor, or Mt. Vesuvius might bury you under tons of ash. 10 points.

Minor Advantage: You are fated to play a small part in a larger story, but this part will reflect to your credit. In game terms, you are guaranteed one significant victory. 5 points.

If you fulfill your Destiny and survive, it's over - but you might feel its repercussions for years to come. In general, the GM should let you put the character points spent on an advantageous Destiny toward a positive Reputation. A Bestiny that goes unnoticed once fulfilled is not much of a Destiny!

You can detect a specific substance or condition, even when it is shielded from the five human senses. This requires one second of concentration, after which the GM will secretly make a Sense roll for you (see Sense Rolls). The range modifiers from the Size and Speed/Range Table apply. You may buy a special Acute Sense to improve the roll, thereby increasing your effective range.

On a success, the GM tells you the direction to the nearest significant source of the substance, and give you a clue as to the quantity present. On a failure, you sense nothing.

Detect also includes the ability to analyze what you detect. This requires an IQ roll; the better the roll, the more precise the details. For instance, if you had Detect (Metal), you could tell gold from iron on a successful IQ roll, and might learn details - such as whether the gold is in the form of ore or bars, and its precise purity - on a critical success.

The base cost of Detect is as follows:

Rare (sorceresses, fire magic, zombies, gold, radar, radio): 5 points.

Occasional (spellcasters, magic, undead, precious metal, electric fields, magnetic fields, radar and radio): 10 points.

Common (humans, supernatural phenomena, supernatural beings, metal, electric and magnetic fields): 20 points.

Very Common (all life, all supernatural phenomena and beings, all minerals, all energy): 30 points.

Note that the ability to detect certain phenomena can often justify other advantages. For instance, Detect (Magnetic Fields) could explain Absolute Direction.

Detect is extremely common in fiction, where it typically takes one of three forms:

Extended Senses: Detect can emulate almost any kind of believable remote sensing. Senses like Detect (Magnetic Fields) and Detect (Radio) suit realistic robots and vehicles as well as supers. Signal Detection (+0%) is common for such abilities.

Para-Senses: Detect might instead sense ordinary things that would realistically defy discovery without physically searching the area or taking a sample; e.g., Detect (Cats), Detect (Disease), Detect (Gold), or Detect (Poison). Such abilities might be superscience or a form of supernatural divination.

Supernatural Awareness: Detect could be a supernatural sensitivity to otherworldly forces; e.g., Detect (Magic). It might even sense moral concepts. What this means is up to the GM – a zombie or serial killer might trigger Detect (Evil) in some worlds but not others. Moral powers always set it off, however.

How Detect presents information to the user is a special effect. Someone with Detect (Magic) might experience magic as a glow visible through intervening obstacles, a scent, an odd foreboding, or anything else he likes.

Detect doesn’t provide the capacity to comprehend transmissions or see by the “light” they provide, even if it can locate them and analyze their composition. Such capabilities are separate advantages. For instance, Detect (Radio) and Detect (Infrared) can locate radio signals and heat sources, respectively – but you need Radio to understand radio signals and Infravision to see by infrared radiation.

Any power might have Detect for its own focus or an opposed one. For the purpose of Detect, treat a single focus or power as “Rare,” a single power source as “Occasional,” a group of related sources (e.g., all supernatural powers) as “Common,” and all powers as “Very Common.” Talent affects Sense rolls to use this ability and IQ rolls for analysis.

Lock-On: Your Detect does not tell you exactly where the subject is (you only know direction), but you may still follow up with further Malediction-like abilities. The GM rolls for these in secret, however, since you don’t know the range penalty, but there is no penalty for “blind use.” This is redundant with Precise (which already includes these benefits) but may be combined with Vague, in which case you get no location information but may still follow up. +50%.

Precise: On a successful Sense roll, you also learn the distance to whatever you detect. Detect with the Precise enhancement allows you to “lock onto” the target to affect it with another indirect ability that works like a Malediction, such as Mind Reading. In effect, Precise turns Detect into another targeting sense, much like vision. +100%.

Precise, Nontargeting: As for Precise, but you cannot target a subject via your Detect. Knowing its exact location makes it easier to target it using your normal senses, of course. +90%.

Signal Detection: You can detect an active transmission of some sort, such as a radio, radar, or laser; see Scanning Sense and Telecommunication. You suffer no range penalties, but must be within twice the signal's own range and (if the signal is directional) within its path. +0%.

Analyzing: Your sense has an extremely high resolution, like a superscience scanner. Basic analysis is automatic if your Sense roll succeeds. Only make a separate IQ roll if you opt to do a detailed analysis. Success reveals details such as the form and purity of the item sensed, its precise subclass, etc. This is incompatible with Vague. +100%.

Analysis Only: You cannot use your Detect to detect the substance! However, once you’ve located it using your other senses, you can analyze it normally. -50%.

Cannot Analyze: You cannot make a follow-up roll to analyze what you detect. This is incompatible with Vague, which already includes this drawback. -10%.

Vague: You can only detect the presence or absence of the target substance. Direction and quantity are revealed only on a critical success, and you cannot analyze what you detect. This limitation is mutually exclusive with Precise. -50%.

You are a sentient computer program - possibly an artificial intelligence or an 'upload' of a living mind. By default, you inhabit a body that includes a computer with Complexity equal to at least half your IQ; see Computers.

You are completely immune to any power defined as 'Telepathic', and to magic spells that specifically affect living minds. However, computer viruses and abilities that affect Digital Minds can affect you; you can be taken offline (or even stored, unconscious, as data); and those with Computer Hacking or Computer Programming skill can gain access to your data… and possibly read or alter your consciousness!

You are likely to have the Machine meta-trait, but this is not mandatory, as you could be a computer-like mind inside an organic body (e.g., a bio-computer or a brain implant). The Reprogrammable disadvantage is also common for Digital Minds, as is the Automaton meta-trait, but you do not have to possess either trait. Many advantages are also possible but not automatic.

Computing Power: If you operate faster than a human mind, buy Enhanced Time Sense. If you can add advantages or skills temporarily by running programs, buy Modular Abilities.

Copies: If you can run multiple copies of your mind on a single computer system, buy Compartmentalized Mind. If you can create loyal copies that run on other systems, buy Duplication with the Digital limitation. If you have copies backed up offline, buy Extra Life.

Uploading: If you can actively “upload” yourself into other computers, buy Possession with the Digital limitation. If you can do this easily, buy extra bodies as Puppets.

You have a superhuman ability to distinguish between sounds. You can always recognize people by voice, and can recognize individual machines by their 'sound signature.' You may memorize a sound by listening to it for at least one minute and making a successful IQ roll. On a failure, you must wait at least one full day before making a repeated attempt.

You get +4 (in addition to any Acute Hearing bonuses) on any task that utilizes hearing, and receive +4 to Shadowing skill when following a noisy target.

To simulate the passive sonar used by submarines, add a -30% Accessibility limitation, “Only underwater.”

If a high Sense roll is what matters, Acute Senses are more cost-effective. Discriminatory Senses are priced as much for the ability to distinguish things non-visually as for their bonus to Sense rolls. Equivalent traits for vision and touch are Hyperspectral Vision and Sensitive Touch, respectively.

Discriminatory Senses suit animal-related powers and certain elemental powers (e.g., Sound/Vibration power, for Discriminatory Hearing). They might even be appropriate for ESP in some settings. Talent adds to the IQ roll to memorize sensory impressions and the Sense roll to use the affected sense.

Profiling: You possess an extensive mental database of sensory “signatures” that you can quickly compare to new sensory impressions. This doubles the bonus to analyze and recognize targets (but not to sense or track them) to +8. All attempts to memorize new signatures succeed automatically – there’s no need for an IQ roll. +50%.

Your sense of smell is far beyond the human norm, and can register distinctive odors for practically everything you may encounter. This allows you to recognize people, places, and things by scent. You may memorize a scent by sniffing it for at least one minute and making a successful IQ roll. On a failure, you must wait at least one full day before making a repeated attempt.

You get +4 (in addition to any Acute Taste and Smell bonuses) on any task that utilizes the sense of smell, and receive +4 to Tracking skill.

If you actually become ill when exposed to the odor of a particular substance, take the Temporary Disadvantage limitation. The most common effect is Revulsion, but the GM may choose to allow other temporary disadvantages.

If a high Sense roll is what matters, Acute Senses are more cost-effective. Discriminatory Senses are priced as much for the ability to distinguish things non-visually as for their bonus to Sense rolls. Equivalent traits for vision and touch are Hyperspectral Vision and Sensitive Touch, respectively.

Discriminatory Senses suit animal-related powers and certain elemental powers (e.g., Sound/Vibration power, for Discriminatory Hearing). They might even be appropriate for ESP in some settings. Talent adds to the IQ roll to memorize sensory impressions and the Sense roll to use the affected sense.

Emotion Sense: You can detect a person or animal's emotional state by odor. This functions as the Empathy advantage, but you must be within 2 yards of the subject. +50%.

Profiling: You possess an extensive mental database of sensory “signatures” that you can quickly compare to new sensory impressions. This doubles the bonus to analyze and recognize targets (but not to sense or track them) to +8. All attempts to memorize new signatures succeed automatically – there’s no need for an IQ roll. +50%.

This talent functions in most ways like Discriminatory Smell, but enhances the sense of taste instead, so tracking is not possible. You must ingest a small quantity of the material to be examined; for a living subject, this means bodily fluids. This gives you an IQ roll to recognize the taste, identify whether a substance is safe to eat, etc. You can perform a detailed 'analysis' with a roll against a suitable skill (Chemistry, Cooking, Pharmacy, Poisons…) You get +4 (in addition to any Acute Taste and Smell bonuses) on any task that utilizes the sense of taste.

If a high Sense roll is what matters, Acute Senses are more cost-effective. Discriminatory Senses are priced as much for the ability to distinguish things non-visually as for their bonus to Sense rolls. Equivalent traits for vision and touch are Hyperspectral Vision and Sensitive Touch, respectively.

Discriminatory Senses suit animal-related powers and certain elemental powers (e.g., Sound/Vibration power, for Discriminatory Hearing). They might even be appropriate for ESP in some settings. Talent adds to the IQ roll to memorize sensory impressions and the Sense roll to use the affected sense.

Profiling: You possess an extensive mental database of sensory “signatures” that you can quickly compare to new sensory impressions. This doubles the bonus to analyze and recognize targets (but not to sense or track them) to +8. All attempts to memorize new signatures succeed automatically – there’s no need for an IQ roll. +50%.

You do not breathe or require oxygen. Choking and strangulation attempts cannot harm (or silence!) you, and you are immune to inhaled toxins. You are still affected by contact poisons, pressure, and vacuum; take Sealed, Pressure Support, and Vacuum Support, respectively, to resist those threats.

Gills: You can extract oxygen from water, allowing you to remain submerged indefinitely. You suffocate if the water contains no dissolved oxygen. You are immune to strangulation and 'the bends.' If you can only survive underwater, and suffocate in air as quickly as a normal human would drown underwater, Doesn't Breathe (Gills) is a 0-point feature; otherwise, -50%.

Oxygen Absorption: As Gills, but you can absorb oxygen through the surface of your body whether it is in the air, a liquid, or another medium. Your body does not absorb poisonous gases, but you will suffocate if there is no oxygen available. You can use breathing equipment in space (your lungs are capable of working normally.) You may not have the Sealed advantage. -25%.

Oxygen Combustion: As Oxygen Absorption, but you cannot breathe underwater or anywhere else fire cannot burn. -50%.

Oxygen Storage: You need to breathe, but you can go for extended periods of time without doing so; perhaps you store oxygen (like a whale) or have superior blood oxygenation. This differs from Breath-Holding in that you are completely immune to “the bends” while your oxygen supply holds out. If you can effectively 'hold your breath' for 25 times as long as usual, this is -50%; 50 times, -40%; 100 times, -30%; 200 times, -20%, 300 times, -10%.

You do not require food, water, or fuel. Your body is powered in some other manner: solar power, ambient magical energy, etc. A sufficiently rare energy source might qualify you for Dependency.

You do not have to sleep at all. You can ignore all ill effects from missed nights of rest.

You can 'infect' others with a supernatural condition - vampirism, lycanthropy, etc. - and exert absolute control over them. This trait is only appropriate for supernatural beings that spread their 'curse' through infection, and only affects members of susceptible races (typically your original race and very similar races). The GM is the judge of which curses are spread this way and who is susceptible.

When you buy Dominance, you must specify one natural attack - Claws, Innate Attack, Vampiric Bite, etc. - that delivers the infection. Anyone you damage this way must roll 3d vs. the HP of injury he received (maximum one roll per day). If he rolls under the damage amount, he becomes infected, and will change into the same kind of creature as you in 2d days, or at the GM's discretion, without suitable supernatural intervention. The GM is free to impose additional conditions for infection; for instance, the victim might have to suffer three attacks, or share your blood, or even die before making the roll above.

Once the transition is complete, the victim acquires your supernatural racial template (Vampire, Werewolf, etc), plus Slave Mentality. He becomes your subordinate. If he goes on to infect others, his victims will acquire the same traits and serve you as well.

Dominance itself costs 20 points, but in order to control a new victim, you must have sufficient unspent points to buy him as an Ally with the enhancements “Minion” (due to his Slave Mentality) and “Special Abilities” (because he can create new servitors for you.) You can choose any frequency of appearance, and may improve this later on with earned points. If you lack the points to buy your victim as an Ally - even at a frequency of “6 or less” - he will still be infected but he will not become your slave.

Dominance persists until you die (truly die, for undead), or your slave grows in power and you cannot (or choose not to) spend the points to keep him as an Ally, or the GM rules the curse is broken via supernatural means. If any of these things occur, your victim will lose Slave Mentality and become free-willed. You may use the points spent on your former Ally to dominate new victims.

See Infectious Attack for the disadvantageous form of Dominance.

This can be used to represent an attack that infects victims with nanobots that allow the attacker to control them.

No Injury Required: The attacker doesn’t need to injure the victim at all, but merely has to touch, speak to, or otherwise interact with the subject, who must then roll vs. Will or HT to resist (specify this detail when selecting the enhancement). Success means the subject can’t be affected by that attacker for one day. Failure has the usual effects of Dominance. This is worth +300% plus the value of any modifiers for range, reach, area, and/or penetration required for an Affliction or Innate Attack that functions the same way.

No Onset Time: Waiving the usual 2d days of onset time for Dominance is effectively a form of Cosmic (p. B103) that removes a standard restriction. +50%.

Fatal Beating: Mutually exclusive with No Injury Required. The attacker must kill his victim with unarmed attacks to “turn” him – neither lesser injury nor armed attacks will do. -40%.

Horde: Requires No Onset Time. The attacker doesn’t dominate those he “turns.” He merely creates allies of convenience that join in that one combat. He, these new recruits, and their converts are equals – there’s no “chain of command.” Once all viable victims have fled the battle, died, or turned, all links within the horde end. Individuals might loiter in a pack, become lone wolves, or wander off, but whether some or all of them join in the next fight depends entirely on Sense rolls, mental disadvantages, etc., as with any group of combatants. -80%.

Prerequisites: Any one-handed combat skill.

Buy this power-up separately for each skill. For example, Dual-Weapon Fighting (Broadsword) would let you use two katanas at once. The GM may allow you to learn weapon combinations. If so, each specific combination counts as its own power-up. For example, Dual-Weapon Fighting (Broadsword/Pistol) allows you to wield a katana in melee combat and shoot at foes with an M1911.

When armed with two suitable melee weapons, you can make a full-skill attack with both. Additional strikes due to All-Out Attack (Double) or Extra Attack can come from either weapon. You cannot combine this with Rapid Strike!

Costs 5 points/level if user has Ambidexterity.

Prerequisites: At least three one-handed combat skills, and any of Gunslinger, Trained by a Master, or Weapon Master.

This power-up lets you use Dual-Weapon Attack (p. B230) with any two weapons you’re capable of wielding simultaneously, regardless of skill. As a side benefit, you’re fully ambidextrous and never suffer -4 for using the “off” hand. There’s no need for Dual-Weapon Fighting (pp. 7-8) if you have Dual-Weapon Mastery. Those with the former may upgrade to the latter by paying the cost difference. The GM might require this progression – or call for champions to acquire one, two, and finally three kinds of Dual-Weapon Fighting – and specify a minimum number of game sessions between steps.

* Costs 15 points with Ambidexterity [5], which the GM may opt to make learnable.

† This is a wildcard technique (p. 5), with triple the cost to allow it to work with all one-handed combat skills.

When using Dodge and Drop (p. B377), you increase your step’s length by one and add +1 to Dodge (giving you a total of +4 at level 1, +5 at level 2, and +6 at level 3). Those with Acrobatics can include an acrobatic stand when they use this power-up by rolling at Acrobatics -6; success means they land standing on their feet instead of one the ground!

Advantages: Basic Move +10 (Accessibility, Only when using a Dodge and Drop option, -20%; Only for the purposes of determining your step, -60%) [10/level] + Enhanced Defense (Dodge and Drop)* [10/level].

* Gives +1 to Dodge when using one of the options under Dodge and Drop, in addition to the option’s usual effects.

Prerequisites: Any of Esoteric Medicine or First Aid at 18+, Medic! at 14+, or Physician at 16+.

You’re used to working with whatever is at hand when it comes to patching up yourself or others. When using your chosen skill, you ignore up to -5 worth of penalties due to lack of equipment (for example, improvised gear gives no penalty and no gear gives a mere -5!) and up to -5 in penalties due to haste (see Time Spent, p. B346). Furthermore, you add 1 to the HP you restore. At level 2, you ignore up to -8 worth of penalties due to lack of equipment and up to another -8 due to haste, and restore +2 to HP. At level 3, you ignore up to -10 worth of penalties due to lack of equipment and up to another -10 due to haste, and restore +3 to HP. High-quality gear, if available, still adds its normal bonus.

Those with Medic! (Champions, p. 30) should specialize in that skill. They can ignore penalties for haste and lack of gear when performing any medical activity!

Perks: Efficient (chosen skill) [1] + Hands of a Healer 1* [1] + Unique Technique (Improvised Gear (chosen skill)) [1] + Unique Technique (Speed Bandaging) [1]. Additional levels increase Hands of a Healer to 2 [2] or 3 [3].

Techniques: Improvised Gear (First Aid) (H) Skill-5 [6] + Speed Bandaging (H) Skill-7 [4]. Improvised Gear improved to Skill-2 [9] at level 2 and Skill+0 [11] at level 3. Speed Bandaging improved to Skill-4 [7] at level 2 and Skill-0 [11] at level 3.

* This perk gives those you heal an additional HP per level when using First Aid (p. B195).

You can split into two or more bodies (“Dupes”), each possessing your full knowledge and powers (but not copies of your equipment, unless you buy a special enhancement). It takes one second and a Concentrate maneuver to separate or merge. When your Dupes merge, your FP and HP are the average of all your copies' FP and HP at that time. Your combined self remembers everything experienced by any Dupe.

Dupes have no special ability to coordinate with one another. For that, buy Telesend (see Telecommunication). If your Telesend works only with your Dupes, you may take the Racial limitation. You may combine Telesend with a Mindlink with your Dupes, in which case you are in constant telepathic contact - no die rolls required.

If one of your Dupes dies, all the others immediately take 2d damage and are stunned. This is mental stun if you define Duplication as a mental trait, physical stun if you define it as a physical trait. The IQ or HT roll to recover is at -6. You also lose the points you spent for that Dupe. The GM may allow you to buy back a dead Dupe with unspent points. Alternatively, an Extra Life will let you bring back any one dead Dupe. Your point value drops by the price of the Extra Life, but this is cheaper than buying back a Dupe.

This is typically a super ability, with two important exceptions. First, with the Digital limitation, Duplication can represent a Digital Mind capable of controlling multiple computers. Second, exotic alien life forms – notably cinematic blobs and amoeboids – can sometimes divide and recombine at will (and should probably have the Shared Resources limitation).

With the Construct enhancement, Duplication is appropriate for any magical or spirit power that allows the user to summon or create a doppelganger. With Sequential, it’s suitable for time-travel powers. Talent affects all skill rolls made by one Dupe to interact directly with another (Empathy rolls, First Aid rolls, etc.).

Duplicated Gear: Your Dupes appear with copies of Signature Gear that you are carrying or wearing. Duplicated equipment vanishes when you merge, even if it becomes separated from you. Treat your equipment's HP, ammunition, energy supply, etc. just like your own HP and FP when you merge. +100%.

No Sympathetic Injury: If one of your Dupes is killed, the others are not stunned or hurt. +20%.

Construct: Your Dupes are material projections under your mental control. When you dispel them, they vanish, leaving you with your current – not average – FP and HP. You also enjoy all the benefits of No Sympathetic Injury (don’t buy it separately). Finally, the death of a Dupe isn’t permanent: by taking a Concentrate maneuver and spending 10 FP, you can generate a replacement. But there’s only one “true you,” and if you die, all your Dupes die with you! This is incompatible with Digital and Shared Resources. +60%.

Digital: Your Dupes are software copies of your mind, not physical copies of your body. They can possess other computers or occupy spare Puppets. You may only take this limitation if you have both Digital Mind and Possession (Digital). -60%.

Shared Resources: Your Dupes do not share your full FP and HP; instead, you must distribute your FP and HP among them. For instance, if you had 15 HP and one Dupe, you could split your HP 7 and 8, 2 and 13, or in any other combination that totaled 15. You need not distribute FP and HP proportionally; with 15 HP and 15 HP, you could give one copy 3 FP and 9 HP and the other 12 FP and 6 HP. When your bodies re-combine, add their FP and HP instead of averaging. -40%.

Sequential: You and your Dupes are chained together in a specific order. Number them from 1 (the original you) on up. When a Dupe dies, all higher-numbered Dupes vanish, too. This lets you create a character who can summon copies of himself from one possible future, with “later” copies dependent on the survival of “earlier” ones. Add Construct (above) if you can replace dead Dupes with copies from other possible futures. -40%.

You have an exceptionally good memory. Anyone may attempt an IQ roll to recall the general sense of past events - the better the roll, the truer the memory, but the details are sketchy. With this talent, you automatically succeed at these 'memory rolls', and you often recall precise details. This trait comes in two levels:

Eidetic Memory: You automatically remember the general sense of everything you concentrate on, and can recall specific details by making an IQ roll. It is possible to 'learn' this advantage in play (bards and skalds often acquire it to recall poems and songs). 5 points.

Photographic Memory: As above, but you automatically recall specific details, too. Any time you, the player forget a detail your character has seen or heard, the GM or other players must remind you - truthfully! 10 points.

This trait affects recall, not comprehension, and so does not benefit skills. However, it gives a bonus whenever the GM requires an IQ roll for learning: +5 for Eidetic Memory, +10 for Photographic Memory.

You can alter your skin and facial features (but not clothing or makeup) to duplicate those of another member of your race or a very similar race. This takes 10 seconds, and requires a Disguise roll if you try to duplicate a particular individual. It takes three seconds to return to your original form. This ability gives +4 to all Disguise rolls.

As the name implies, Elastic Skin might involve actually altering one’s skin. On the other hand, it could just be a skin-deep illusion. Decide which when buying the ability. Each has its pros and cons – there’s no difference in point cost.

Individuals who can only change their appearance to camouflage themselves should take Chameleon. Those who can transform their entire body have Morph.

Elastic Skin suits illusion powers and body-alteration powers (often alongside Constriction Attack, Flexibility, Stretching, etc.). With the Glamour limitation, it’s also reasonable for Telepathy. Talent adds to Disguise rolls made in conjunction with this ability

You have a 'feeling' for people. When you first meet someone - or are reunited after an absence - you may ask the GM to roll against your IQ. He will tell you what you 'feel' about that person. On a failed IQ roll, he will lie!

This talent is excellent for spotting impostors, possession, etc., and for determining the true loyalties of NPCs. You can also use it to determine whether someone is lying… not what the truth is, but just whether they are being truthful with you.

Sensitive: Your ability is not entirely reliable; the IQ roll is at -3. You get +1 to your Detect Lies and Fortune-Telling skills, and to Psychology rolls to analyze a subject you can converse with. 5 points.

Empathy: Your ability works at full IQ, and the bonus to Detect Lies, Fortune-Telling, and Psychology is +3. 15 points.

This advantage works only on sapient (IQ 6+), natural beings. The equivalent talents for animals, plants, and supernatural entities are Animal Empathy, Plant Empathy, and Spirit Empathy, respectively.

Awareness of the emotions and general motivations of other beings is central to several important fictional archetypes. Telepaths and “empaths” usually have Empathy; mediums and shamans traditionally possess Spirit Empathy; and elves, druids, and rangers in fantasy often enjoy Animal Empathy or Plant Empathy.

Communication with animals, plants, and spirits calls for Speak With Animals, Speak With Plants, and Medium, respectively. Animal, Plant, and Spirit Empathy don’t include this function. Seeing spirits calls for a suitable form of See Invisible. To read thoughts – not emotions – buy Mind Probe or Mind Reading.

Powers that focus on animals, plants, or spirits might include the appropriate variety of empathy – and any of these traits would suit Telepathy. These advantages are also suitable for powers that let the user read body language (e.g., chi powers) or vital signs (e.g., healing powers). Talent benefits the IQ roll to use any of these abilities.

Remote: Your ability isn’t limited to direct, personal meetings. You can “read” any subject you can see or hear – even over electronic media (or by supernatural means, for Spirit Empathy). +50%.

Specialized: The Specialized limitations for Speak With Animals and Speak With Plants are equally valid on Animal Empathy and Plant Empathy, respectively. Spirit Empathy already includes this limitation.

Fictional power-wielders often draw on special “power supplies” to fuel their abilities. To represent this, buy Fatigue Points at the usual 3 points apiece but treat them as a new “Energy Reserve” (ER) advantage. This is always tied to a particular power source; e.g., 10 FP for psi powers is “ER 10 (Psi) [30].”

An ER can only power abilities of the same source. It can pay the basic FP costs to use advantages, those added by Costs Fatigue, and expenditures for extra effort and stunts (see Chapter 4, Powers). It can also fuel related skills; e.g., ER (Magical) can energize spells. Powers can still draw on normal FP; if they can’t, add -5% to the power modifier.

However, an ER isn’t the same as FP. Only associated powers can deplete it. Fatigue Attacks, missed sleep, and so on don’t sap it, and other powers, wild abilities, and ordinary extra effort can’t tap it. Furthermore, depleting an ER causes none of the effects of going below 1/3 FP – and having a full ER doesn’t protect against those effects.

An ER recharges by one point every 10 minutes, independent of rest. You can recover FP at the same time if you rest. Factors that alter FP recovery generally have no effect on ER recharge rate.

Skills connected to the ER’s source can help replenish it. For instance, the Recover Energy spell (p. B248) improves the recharge rate of ER (Magic). Abilities of that source can also help. Damage Resistance with Absorption can heal ER, FP, or HP for the usual +80%. Leech can have “Heals ER” or “Only Heals ER” for the price of “Heals FP” or “Only Heals FP.” Regeneration can have “ER Recovery” or “ER Only” for the price of “Fatigue Recovery” or “Fatigue Only,” and often has an Accessibility limitation such as “Only in direct sunlight” (-10%), “Only on holy days or in holy places” (-40%), or “Only inside a nuclear reactor” (-80%).

Abilities Only: Your ER can only pay the basic FP costs of your abilities. It’s of no use for extra effort or stunts. -10%.

One Power: Only available if you have two or more powers of a given source. Your ER works with just one of your powers. -50%.

Slow Recharge: Your ER recharges slowly. -20% for one point/hour; -60% for one point/day.

Special Recharge: Your ER doesn’t recharge over time. It only recharges via DR with Absorption, Leech, the Steal Energy spell, etc. This is incompatible with Slow Recharge. -70%, or -80% if the energy bleeds away at the rate of one point/second, forcing you to use it quickly.

Stunts Only: Your ER is only useful for extra effort and stunts. It can’t pay the FP costs for normal ability use. This is incompatible with Abilities Only. -10%.

You are unusually adept at evading attacks! This may be due to careful observation of your foe, focusing chi, or anything else that fits your background. There are three versions:

Enhanced Block: You have +1 to your Block score with either Cloak or Shield skill. You must specialize in one particular Block defense. 5 points.

Enhanced Dodge: You have +1 to your Dodge score. This is especially common in cinematic campaigns, where even the paper boy may be able to buy level 1 of this advantage, and action movie heroes might have up to four levels in campaigns based on movies where protagonists routinely cartwheel through hails of bullets without being nicked. 15 points.

Enhanced Dodge (Dive for Cover): You get an extra +1 to Dodge only when diving for cover to escape an explosion. This is surprisingly common in action movies, even among cannon fodder. 5 points/level.

Enhanced Dodge (Vehicular): You get an extra +1 to vehicular Dodge (p. B375). You may take this for a particular vehicleoperation skill (5 points/level) or for all vehicles (10 points/level).

Enhanced Parry: You have +1 to your Parry score. You may take this advantage for bare hands (5 points), for any one Melee Weapon skill (5 points), or for all parries (10 points). 5 or 10 points.

This talent is definitely cinematic! The GM might require Trained By A Master or Weapon Master as a prerequisite. He may choose to allow warriors to buy this trait with earned points. He might even permit multiple levels of each Enhanced Defense, in which case the point cost is per +1 bonus. Note that bonuses larger than +3 are almost certainly unbalanced, even in 'over-the-top' games!

Enhanced Dodge costs 15 points/level because you can dodge any number of times and require no equipment to do so. Versions that work only once per turn, or that require expensive gear (like a BMW 750i E38), are cheaper.

Prerequisite: Trained by a Master or Weapon Master.

Martial artists may have up to three levels of Enhanced Dodge [15/level], Enhanced Parry (Bare Hands) [5/level], Enhanced Parry (One melee weapon) [5/level], or Enhanced Parry (All) [10/level].

You have +1 to your power defense (Psionic Powers pp. 8-9) rolls for one psionic skill (5 points) or all psionic skills (10 points). The GM may permit multiple levels of this advantage, using the guidelines for Enhanced Defenses.

In a game that uses the extended rules from GURPS Powers, note that this applies to power parries and power blocks, but not power dodges (which can be improved by buying Enhanced Dodge).

You can really move! Each level of Enhanced Move doubles your top speed in one environment: Air, Ground, Space, or Water. You may also take a half-level of Enhanced Move, either alone or with any whole number of levels; this costs 10 points and multiplies Move by 1.5.

Example 1: A super buys Enhanced Move 4 (Ground), for 80 points. He multiplies his Move by 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 16. If his Basic Move were 8, he could run at 128 yards/second (262 mph). Example 2: An avian race has Enhanced Move 2.5 (Air), for 50 points. All members of the race multiply their top airspeed by 2 x 2 x 1.5 = 6.

Your multiplied Move is your top speed. Record it in parentheses after your Enhanced Move trait; for instance, the super in the example above would write “Enhanced Move 4 (Ground Speed 128).” You can always choose to accept a slightly lower top speed if you want your speed to match that of a real-world or fictional creature or vehicle with a known top speed. This does not give you back any points.

Enhanced Move does not affect Basic Speed, Basic Move, or Dodge. Its benefits apply only when moving along a relatively straight, smooth course (see Sprinting). It does have some defensive value, however: those who attack you with ranged attacks must take your speed into account when calculating speed/range modifiers.

Most forms of Enhanced Move have prerequisites. Enhanced Move (Water) requires Amphibious or Aquatic. Enhanced Move (Air) requires Flight. Enhanced Move (Space) requires Flight with the Space Flight or Newtonian Space Flight enhancement, and affects movement in space - not airspeed. To move faster in air and in space, buy both Enhanced Move (Air) and Enhanced Move (Space).

Animals built for speed, superspeedsters, robots, and vehicles are likely to have Enhanced Move in their primary mode of locomotion. Some common explanations:

Physiological: Adaptations such as fins, wings, or a streamlined body often imply such traits as Amphibious, Flight (Small Wings or Winged), and/or No Legs (Aerial or Aquatic), in addition to Enhanced Move. The fastest land creatures aren’t bipeds, and tend to have Extra Legs – or possibly Extra Arms or Strikers. Creatures that can only use Enhanced Move for a short time before they tire should add Costs Fatigue (-5%/level).

Technological: Wheels, tracks, jets, rockets, propellers, etc. are likely for robots and vehicles. Such options often suggest additional traits – No Legs (Wheeled) for wheels, Burning Attack for a rocket that doubles as a weapon, and so on. Many of them make the user obvious while in use, which is a Nuisance Effect (-5%).

Superhuman: Those with powers often have more unusual justifications. These can be invisible (an ordinary-looking man who runs very fast, speedy psychokinetic levitation, etc.) or glaringly obvious (e.g., creating and gliding along a strip of ice). Costs Fatigue and Nuisance Effect are both appropriate.

Enhanced Move is good for longdistance travel and quickly covering a short distance in a straight line – but if the goal is tactical mobility, extra Basic Move is a better choice. See Basic Move and Move in Other Environments.

Powering Up Powers that offer Flight or Amphibious usually incorporate Enhanced Move (Air) or (Water). The most common explanation for Enhanced Move (Ground) is a chi- or psi-based body-control power. Suitable elemental powers can justify almost any form of Enhanced Move. Talent adds to control rolls, and is cumulative with the Handling Bonus enhancement.

Handling Bonus: You get a bonus to DX or vehicle operation skill (e.g., Driving) for the sole purpose of maintaining control at speeds above your Basic Move. +5% per +1, to a maximum of +5.

Handling Penalty: You have a penalty to DX or vehicle operation skill at high speeds. -5% per -1, to a maximum of -5.

Newtonian: This is a limitation for Enhanced Move (Space). Your space 'top speed' is actually your 'delta-v': the total velocity change you can manage before running out of reaction mass. Once you have made velocity changes equal to your top speed, you must refuel before you can change velocity again. -50%.

Road-Bound: This is a limitation for Enhanced Move (Ground). Your Enhanced Move is effective only on a smooth, flat surface, such as a road or building floor. This is often taken in conjunction with the Wheeled disadvantage. -50%.

Environmental is allowed, but only if it limits Enhanced Move to a subset of its usual environment. For instance, Enhanced Move (Air) couldn’t take Environmental, Air (-5%) – but it could have Environmental, Trees or tall buildings (-20%) in order to benefit Move with Brachiator but not Flight.

All-Out: Moving fast requires your undivided attention! Using your ability is like making an All-Out Attack… but without the attack. You have no active defenses and can’t Attack, Concentrate, Ready, etc. Explain what you’re doing: flapping your wings, balancing on two wheels, diverting all your power to project a flame jet or ice path, or whatever else fits. This is worth less than the general All-Out modifier, because it doesn’t limit you to half your Move in a forward direction. -20%.

You can receive and process information dramatically faster than the human norm. This improves your mental speed - notably your reaction time - but not how fast you physically move once you react. This has several game benefits.

First, Enhanced Time Sense (ETS) includes Combat Reflexes and provides all the benefits of that advantage. You cannot buy Combat Reflexes if you have ETS; the two advantages are not cumulative.

In combat, you automatically act before those without ETS, regardless of Basic Speed. If more than one combatant has ETS, they act in order of Basic Speed, and they all get to act before those who lack ETS.

You can perceive things that happen too fast for most people to discern. For example, you cannot be fooled by a projected image, because you can see the individual frames of the film. If secret information is being sent as a high-speed 'burst', you can detect it if you're monitoring the transmission (you cannot necessarily decipher it, but you know it's there). At the GM's discretion, you get a Sense roll to spot objects moving so fast that they are effectively invisible; for instance, bullets in flight. ETS is extremely valuable if you possess magical or psionic defenses that work at the speed of thought.

If you have ETS, your rapid thought processes always allow you to ponder a problem thoroughly and respond in the manner you think best. You never suffer skill penalties for being mentally 'rushed' - although you still need the usual amount of time to complete a physical task, and suffer the usual penalties for hasty work. The GM can almost never tell you to make up your mind right now. (But don't abuse this privilege by taking half an hour to decide what to do in each turn in combat!)

The exception is when something happens so fast that most people can't perceive it at all. In that case, the GM is justified in asking you for an immediate response, since those without ETS get no response.

ETS does not 'slow down' the world from your viewpoint. You can still enjoy a movie by simply ignoring the frames, much as a literate person can choose whether or not to notice the individual letters in the words he's reading. ETS also does not let you violate the laws of physics. Some things (e.g., laser beams) simply travel too fast for you to react.

Campaigns that allow it may grant additional abilities at the GM's option:

The gunman may attempt to dodge any firearms attack if he's in a position to hear the weapon's report or notice its flash (or a reflection) - or if the projectile is in his field of vision, because then he can see it! When in doubt, roll against the better of unpenalized Hearing or Vision. If he has Danger Sense, he always gets a Dodge roll, even against an attack from behind.

At the GM's discretion, moving obstacles - fan blades, six lanes of traffic, etc. - give -2 to -4 for cover or intervening figures, or a speed modifier, where this would be worse (e.g., -6 to shoot between the cars of a train passing at 40 mph). A gunman with ETS can easily perceive momentary windows of opportunity and thus ignore these penalties.

In a Wait situation or a standoff that would normally be resolved using Basic Speed or a Contest of Fast-Draw or Guns, the gunman automatically acts before everyone who lacks ETS. If some fighters have ETS and others don't, use the usual method to decide the order of actions within each group - but the shootists with ETS all act before those without, regardless of speed or skill.

The gunman may spend 3 character points to stop time so that he may act out of turn. He can do this at any time - even between an enemy's attack roll and any defense rolls or damage rolls that would follow. This can't interrupt death, though; if a failed HT roll means the PC is dead, he's dead (but see the Dramatic Death perk). Entering Bullet Time gives the hero one turn to do anything that he could do with a normal turn; he cannot spend more points to buy multiple, consecutive turns of stopped time. After that, ordinary time resumes and the GM assesses the outcome of the gunman's actions, which might include:

• All-Out Attack, Attack, or Move and Attack maneuver to make as many attacks as his guns and abilities allow. Roll to hit normally. The targets are defenseless! The GM determines damage effects and applies them the instant time returns to normal, before anything else occurs.
• One of the above maneuvers to pluck bullets out of the air. The player may specify how close he lets them come before he stops time. Grabbing a bullet takes a DX roll and uses up one attack. Snatched slugs have no momentum upon returning to normal time - they cannot injure anyone.
• Move or Change Posture maneuver. When time speeds back up, he's in a new location or posture.
• Ready maneuver to reload or grab another weapon. When normal time resumes, the gun is loaded, readied, etc.

If the gunslinger moves even a step during Bullet Time, all “paused” attacks on him automatically miss when time restarts. If he moves between a weapon and its intended victim, the attack hits him when the passage of time resumes, although he may defend normally. Should his actions move another person into the path of a suspended attack, it hits that person instead - but the victim may defend.

During Bullet Time, everything but the PC who initiated the change freezes… from his perspective. He sees everybody else paused in mid-step, bullets hanging in air. He and any items he's carrying are the only things that move. The rest of the world sees him travel in a blur. Some further options:

Bullet-Time Ballet: Optionally, when someone buys Bullet Time, other combatants with ETS can elect to “buy in” for 3 points. They must shout this out as soon as the first fighter antes up, or be stuck in regular time! Everybody in Bullet Time gets one turn, acting in descending order by Basic Speed. They affect each other normally, but the rest of the world remains paused. If the GM allows this, he should give NPCs who can use Bullet Time and other rules that cost points - like Buying Success and Flesh Wound - a pool of unspent points.

Bullet Time in Bulk: The GM may opt to remove the “no multiple, consecutive turns” restriction, allowing gunmen with ETS to keep spending points to get several turns of action. This is useful for campaigns that emulate fiction where the hero can, at the climax of the adventure, act almost at will in stopped time! When used with Bullet-Time Ballet, everyone who wants to remain in Bullet Time must ante up before each turn.

Not Quite Bullet Time: A warrior who can merely slow time rather than stop it should buy Altered Time Rate instead, adding limitations like Costs Fatigue (-10% per 1 FP per turn), Limited Use, and Takes Recharge if he can use his gift only infrequently, similar to Bullet Time.

You can 'track' more than one target - whether with a built-in sensor array or eyes that can swivel independently, like those of a chameleon. An Aim or Evaluate maneuver normally applies to a single target. Each level of Enahnced Tracking allows your maneuver to apply to one additional target. You can only track targets that you can detect, and you cannot Aim at more targets than you have ready weapons to Aim with.

Heroes with Gunslinger can buy Enhanced Tracking. Its primary benefit, apart from making Whirlwind Attack more effective, is to allow Aim maneuvers with one extra ready weapon per level - a feat of limited value, given that Gunslingers wielding several guns typically use pistols that enjoy full Acc without Aim. A new enhancement can make this advantage appealing to cinematic snipers, though.

Enhanced Tracking has no effect on arc of vision – it just makes it possible to track multiple targets within that arc. Peripheral Vision (p. B74) and 360° Vision (p. 39) do improve arc of vision, and often accompany Enhanced Tracking.

Like any vision ability, Enhanced Tracking is suitable for Light power. It also fits a wide variety of supernatural powers – notably ESP and chi powers. Talent adds to any Sense roll required to keep track of targets.

Multiple Lock-Ons: You can track multiple targets even if you have only one weapon, and gain the benefits of your Aim maneuver if you attack any of them. This lets you use scopes, Precision Aiming, etc., against as many targets as you can track: two with Enhanced Tracking 1, three with Enhanced Tracking 2, and so on. +20%.

An average life cycle is defined as maturity at age 18, with aging effects starting at age 50 and accelerating at ages 70 and 90. Each level of Extended Lifespan doubles all these values. Note that if you need to take more than seven levels of this trait (giving maturity at age 2,304 and the onset of aging at age 6,400), it is more efficient to take Unaging.

In GURPS, a limb with which you can manipulate objects is an arm, regardless of where it grows or what it looks like. A normal arm can strike a blow that inflicts thrust-1 crushing damage based on ST. The human norm is two arms for 0 points. Extra arms have a base cost of 10 points apiece.

You can use extra arms freely for multiple noncombat tasks. For instance, with three arms, you could perform a one-handed task (e.g., use a computer mouse) and a two-handed task (e.g., type) simultaneously. You need Enhanced Tracking to perform tasks that require attention to events in more than one place at a time, however.

You can also use all of your arms in concert for a single combat maneuver where extra arms would be helpful; e.g., grappling in close combat. And if you have at least three arms, you can use a shield normally with one arm and still wield a two-handed weapon, just as a normal human fighter can use a shield and one-handed weapon at the same time.

No matter how many arms you have, though, you do not get additional attacks (or other extra maneuvers) in combat unless you buy Extra Attacks.

Extra arms give a huge advantage in close combat. You cannot punch with more than one arm at a time unless you have Extra Attack, but you may grapple with all of your arms at once. Each extra arm of regular length or longer, over and above the generic set of two, gives +2 to any attempt to grapple or break free from a grapple. Having more arms than your opponent also give +3 on any attempt to pin or resist a pin.

Extra-Flexible: Limbs with this enhancement are more flexible than human arms, like tentacles or an elephant's trunk. These limbs can always reach and work with other limbs, regardless of body positioning, general layout, or 'right' and 'left.' +50%.

Long: Your arm is longer in proportion to your body than a human arm relative to the human body. This increases your effective SM for the purpose of calculating reach with that arm (see Size Modifier and Reach.) This does affect the reach of melee weapons wielded in that hand. Each +1 to SM also adds +1 per die to swinging damage. +100% per +1 to SM.

Foot Manipulators: Your 'arm' is really an unusually dextrous leg. You cannot walk while you are manipulating objects with it (although you can sit, float, or fly). This is a Temporary Disadvantage limitation, the disadvantage being Legless. This kind of arm is usually - but not always - Short (see below). -30%.

No Physical Attack: The limb can manipulate but cannot punch or wield melee weapons, and gives no bonus in close combat. It can still wield a firearm or similar ranged weapon. -50%.

Short: The arm has reach 'C' (close combat only), and lacks the leverage to use any weapon that must be swung. Subtract one yard from the reach of any melee weapon wielded by that limb. If all of your arms are short, you are at -2 on any attempt to grapple. -50%.

Weak: The arm has less than your full body ST for lifting, striking, and grappling. -25% if the arm has half your body ST, or -50% if it has 1/4 your body ST (round down in both cases).

Weapon Mount: Instead of an arm, you have a 'hardpoint' where you can mount a weapon. This may be biological, mechanical, or a hybrid of the two, depending on whether you are a living being, a machine, or a cyborg. You cannot use this mount for any purpose other than bearing a weapon. This limitation is incompatibel with Feet Manipulator, No Physical Attack, Short, and Weak -80%.

Beings with one or two arms can use the special modifiers above. Point cost is equal to 1/10 the percentile modifier per affected arm. Thus, enhancements become advantages and limitations become disadvantages. For instance, Short is -50%, so it is worth -5 points per arm. Someone with two short arms would have a -10-point disadvantage.

Those with one arm can only apply these modifiers once, but also get the -20 points for One Arm. For instance, an elephant's trunk would be Extra-Flexible (+50%), Long (+100%), and Weak (-50%). These modifiers total +100%, for a 10-point advantage. The -20 points for One Arm would make the net cost -10 points.

You can attack more than once per turn. The 'default' assumption in GURPS is that you can make one attack per turn, no matter how many limbs you have. Each Extra Attack allows one additional attack per turn. You may not have more attacks than you have limbs (arms, legs, etc.), natural weapons (Strikers, Teeth, etc.), and attack powers (Afflictions, Bindings, and Innate Attacks) with which to attack. The GM's word on what constitutes an 'attack' is final.

A normal human can purchase one Extra Attack. This lets him attack with both hands at once, and represents unusually good coordination. Supers and nonhumans have no such limitation. A super-powered cop could buy two Extra Attacks, enabling him to shoot rays from his eyes, fire his pistol, and swing his nightstick all at once. A dragon might take four Extra Attacks and attack five times with any combination of his four clawed limbs, teeth, horns, tail, and fiery breath!

Extra Attack is exactly that: an extra Attack maneuver on your turn in combat. It does not eliminate the -4 penalty for an 'off' hand (see Ambidexterity) or let you take multiple Aim maneuvers (see Enhanced Tracking). You may use some of your attacks for Feint maneuvers, but you may not take multiple actions of other kinds - that requires Altered Time Rate.

The top candidates for this advantage are monsters that can attack simultaneously with multiple body parts (e.g., claws and teeth), superhuman warriors with cinematic levels of combat expertise, and machines with advanced tactical computers. However, the GM might make one or two levels available to anyone in a cinematic martial-arts game.

When an individual with Extra Attacks makes an All-Out Attack, he must select one type of bonus for all his attacks that turn. He could not, for instance, take All-Out Attack (Determined) with one attack and All-Out Attack (Strong) with another. If he chooses All-Out Attack (Double) to increase his number of attacks, he gets one additional attack.

You may use one of your melee attacks to make a Rapid Strike on your turn, at the usual penalty. Your remaining attacks are in addition to this Rapid Strike, and receive no penalty. You may not use Rapid Strike with two or more attacks in one turn.

Gunmen with Extra Attack can shoot a firearm with each hand at no penalty beyond the -4 for the off hand. This makes the Dual-Weapon Attack technique largely redundant for such gunslingers. Gun fu masters often have Multi-Strike and/or Single Skill.

Use Ambidexterity for someone who can use both hands with equal dexterity – Extra Attack is for those who can use both hands at the same time, which isn’t the same thing. To aim at multiple targets, take Enhanced Tracking (above). Speedy heroes who get multiple maneuvers per turn should buy Altered Time Rate.

Prerequisite: Trained by a Master or Weapon Master.

Martial artists with this advantage can still trade only one attack for one of a Dual-Weapon Attack or a Rapid Strike or Very Rapid Strike each turn. All their other attacks are in addition to this.

Extra Attack is a classic part of chi powers, granting multiple attacks to martial-arts masters; both MultiStrike and Single Skill are appropriate. Shapeshifting powers might also include this ability, allowing the effective use of extra body parts in combat. Talent doesn’t affect rolls to hit.

Multi-Strike: You can strike more than once with the same weapon or limb, allowing you to make more attacks than you have weapons. You can split your guns' RoF between as many targets as you have attacks (two at Extra Attack 1, three at Extra Attack 2, and so on) without using the Quick-Shot technique or Spraying Fire (p. B409). You can even spend a single attack to shoot at several opponents with one of those two moves and then use your remaining attacks to engage lone targets. Assign the desired number of rounds to each target and work out the attacks normally. Note that this lets you spread around your weapons' RoF - not exceed it! +20%.

Single Skill: Your Extra Attacks apply only to one combat skill. For instance, Extra Attack 2 with Single Skill, Guns (Pistol) lets you attack three times - but at least two attacks must use Guns (Pistol). To attack more than once using a weapon skill, you need either one weapon per attack or Multi-Strike. -20%.

You have more than one head, each with fully functional ears, eyes, mouth, etc. Each Extra Head gives you one Extra Mouth and one level of Enhanced Tracking at no extra charge. Each head also contains an extra brain with a complete copy of your memories, personality, and skills. These extra brains are 'backups', however, and do not grant additional mental actions - for that, take Compartmentalized Mind.

You cannot suffer more than 2 x (your HP/number of heads) points of injury from any single attack to your head or neck. Any head blow that causes unconsciousness only knocks out that one head; the others continue to function! A critical head blow that would normally kill you simply destroys that head, inflicting the maximum injury noted above and crushing, severing, or exploding the head (GM's option).

Extraneous: Your Extra Head grants Extra Mouth and Enhanced Tracking, but does not contain a backup brain. A single blow to an Extraneous head can do no more than HP/(1.5 x number of heads) points of injury, but blows to your real head can cause stun, knockout, or death even if your other heads are unharmed. -20%.

If you can walk on a limb but cannot use it to manipulate objects, it is a leg in GURPS (for legs that double as arms, see Extra Arms). A normal leg can kick for thrust/crushing damage at your usual reach (1 yard for a human). The human norm is two legs, which costs 0 points. It costs points to have more than two legs:

Three or four legs: If you lose a leg, you can continue to move at half Move (round down). Loss of a second leg causes you to fall. 5 points.

Five or six legs: Each leg lost reduces Move by 20% until only three legs are left. At that point, your Move is 40% normal. Loss of another leg causes you to fall. 10 points.

Seven or more legs: Each leg lost reduces Move by 10% until only three legs are left. At that point, your Move is 40% normal. Loss of another leg causes you to fall. 15 points.

You can apply the following modifiers to all your legs:

Long: Your legs are longer in proportion to your body than human legs relative to the human body. This increases your effective SM for the purpose of calculating reach when kicking (see Size Modifier and Reach, p402) and when clambering over obstacles. +100% per +1 to SM.

Cannot Kick: You cannot use your legs to kick for damage. -50%.

The modifiers above can be applied to creatures with only two legs. Point cost is equal to 1/10 the percentile modifier. For instance, a human with Cannot Kick (-50%) would have a -5-point disadvantage.

You can come back from the dead! No matter how sure your foes were that they killed you, you didn't really die. Work out the details with the GM. Every time you come back from the dead, you use up one Extra Life - remove it from your character sheet and reduce your point total by 25 points. The GM may wish to let players spend earned points to buy Extra Lives in play.

Copy: When you die, you revert to a 'backup copy.' To create this copy takes minutes or hours, possibly at a special facility. Details are up to the GM. Make a copy of your character sheet whenever you update your backup. If you die, you revert to those statistics, losing any traits or character points acquired since then. Note that a copy exists before you die. You must tell the GM where you store it. You will return to life at that location… and if your enemies discover where you store your copy, they may tamper with it! -20%.

Requires Body: You come back in disembodied state - for instance, as a spirit or a digital copy on a computer. All your experiences and abilities are intact (unless you took Copy), but you cannot interact with the physical world at all until you acquire a new body. This might be a clone, an undead corpse, or even a robot 'shell.' -20%, or -40% if the required body is illegal, rare, or expensive (GM's decision).

You have more than one functional mouth, which can be anywhere on your body. All of your mouths are capable of breathing, eating, and speaking. An Extra Mouth lets you bite more than once if you have Extra Attacks. If you have Compartmentalized Mind, you can carry on multiple conversations, or cast two spells that require spoken words. Other benefits include being hard to silence or suffocate, and being able to sing in harmony with yourself!

(see Age and Beauty)

You saved someone's life, kept silent at the right time, or otherwise did someone a good turn. Now he owes you one.

A Favor is a one-shot Ally, Contact, Contact Group, or Patron. Work out the point cost of the parent advantage, and then divide it by 5 (round up) to get the cost of the Favor. The catch is that the NPC(s) in question will help you out once … and only once.

When you wish to 'collect' on your Favor, the GM rolls against the frequency of appearance of the underlying advantage. On a failure, you couldn't reach your 'friend' in time, or he couldn't comply, but you still have your Favor coming. You may try again on a later adventure.

On a success, you get what you want (subject to the limits of the advantage). But this discharges the obligation: remove the Favor from your character sheet and reduce your point total appropriately. However, if the roll is a 3 or 4, your 'friend' still feels indebted to you, and you retain the Favor… at least until next time.

You may buy a Favor in play, just like any trait of this kind. The GM may also wish to include a Favor as part of the reward for a successful adventure.

You are difficult to frighten or intimidate! Add your level of Fearlessness to your Will whenever you make a Fright Check or must resist the Intimidation skill or a supernatural power that induces fear. You also subtract your Fearlessness level from all Intimidation rolls made against you.

A successful tactical shooter can adapt to stressful situations and tap into hidden reservoirs of mental strength. This doesn't make you immune to fear - Unfazeable does that - but it helps you keep your cool in the chaos of a firefight.

Your respiratory system can filter out ordinary contaminants; e.g., dust, pollen, smoke, and even tear gas (but not nerve gas or other contact agents). You suffer no ill effects from such things. This is especially useful in polluted cities and on alien worlds. Note that if you have Doesn't Breathe, you do not need this advantage!

You have better cardiovascular health than your HT alone would indicate. This comes in two levels:

Fit: You get +1 to all HT rolls (to stay conscious, avoid death, resist disease or poison, get through Intensive Training, etc.) This does not improve your HT attribute or HT-based skills! You also recover FP at twice the normal rate. 5 points.

Very Fit: As above, but the bonus to HT rolls is +2. In addition, you lose FP at only half the normal rate. 15 points.

In both cases, this advantage applies only to FP lost to exertion, heat, etc. It has no effect on FP spent to power psi or magic spells.

Prerequisites: Talker!.

Once per game session, when you buy gear – including gear for other team members – you may opt to acquire equipment that is better or cheaper. The power-up can be used for requisitioned or personally purchased gear. Pick one of the following.

• The item is better than what you had anticipated. You can increase one major aspect of the item by +1 (e.g., increase HT) or by 50% for a minor aspect (e.g., boost HP, DR, or operating time by 50%).

• Your item costs less. The reduction in cost depends on how picky you are about what you get: 10% for a broad group of items (e.g., guns and ammo), 20% for a large group (e.g., ammo), 30% for a small group (e.g., silver ammo or rifle ammo), 40% for a specific class (e.g., silver rifle ammo), or by 50% for a specific item (e.g., silver .223 rifle ammo). If you’re purchasing multiple items of the same kind (e.g., silver .223 rifle ammo), you want to use the last option! For items worth more than campaign starting money, halve the discount.

You may apply this power-up retroactively, with the GM’s consent. Pick one of the above options, apply it to the equipment in question, and come up with a suitable reason for the improvement. If the item hadn’t been used yet, perhaps “it was always like that.” If the group has a techie, then upgrading the equipment was trivial for that person. In the case of paying less for the gear, the power-up’s user receives a windfall or rebate of the appropriate amount of cash.

Advantages: Cosmic Power 1 (Cosmic, Acquired perk can be used retroactively, +100%; Limited Use, 1/game session, -50%; Social Only, +0%; Trait-Limited, Better (Gear) or Cheaper (Gear) perks only, -40%) [11].

Your body is unusually flexible. This advantage comes in two levels:

Flexibility: You get +3 on Clinbing rolls; on Escape rolls to get free of ropes, handcuffs, and similar restraints; on Erotic Art skill; and on all attempts to break free in close combat. You may ignore up to -3 in penalties for working in close quarters (including many Explosives and Mechanic rolls). 5 points.

Double-Jointed: As above, but more so. You cannot stretch or squeeze yourself abnormally, but any part of your body may bend any way. You get +5 on Climbing, Erotic Art, and Escape rolls, and on attempts to break free. You may ignore up to -5 in penalties for close quarters. 15 points.

You can fly. The 'default' is full-fledged, self-powered flight without wings or gliding surfaces. This works at any altitude where there is still significant atmosphere - but in the upper atmosphere, you'll need a way to survive in very thin, cold air (e.g., Doesn't Breathe and Temperature Tolerance). You cannot fly in a trace atmosphere or vacuum.

Your flight Move is Basic Speed x 2 (drop all fractions). As explained in Move in Other Environments, you can adjust this for +/-2 points per +/-1 yard/second. For very high speeds, take Enhanced Move (Air). If you do not have any of the Controlled Gliding, Gliding, Lighter Than Air, Small Wings, Space Flight Only, or Winged Flight limitations, you can also 'fly' at half-speed underwater. Flight includes the ability to hover at Move 0 as well.

Flight does not confer the ability to do complex acrobatics and tight turns; for that, buy Aerobatics skill. Flight skill improves endurance.

You can alter most of the above assumptions through special modifiers.

For psychokinetics, buying up increased Air Move is usually more appropriate than Enhanced Move (Air), to represent “speed of thought” travel.

Flight is exceedingly common in myth and fiction, attributed to gods, robots, supers, wizards, and a wide range of monsters… to name only a few examples. Flying heroes typically hew to one of these archetypes:

Airship: Those who hang in the air like dirigibles (“aerostats”) have the Lighter Than Air (-10%) limitation. This is especially suitable for science-fiction “gasbag” aliens.

Bird: Creatures that flap wings to stay airborne – including bats, birds, insects, and many fantastic beasts (dragons, gryphons, etc.) – have the Winged (-25%) limitation. Cannot Hover (-15%), while common, isn’t required; many insects and tiny birds can hover.

Glider: Hang-glider-like “flight” is Controlled Gliding (-45%) – which is only slightly less versatile than the combination of Cannot Hover and Winged. Movement like that of a flying squirrel or flying snake (Chrysopelea) calls for Gliding (-50%).

Helicopter: Rotary-wing flyers have Winged (-25%) but not Cannot Hover. Whirling blades are noisy and dangerous; add Nuisance Effect (-5%) as well. Enhanced Move is likely.

Hovercraft: Give those who must fly close to the ground Low Ceiling (-10%, -20%, or -25%). Add Small Wings (-10%) if – like a vehicle – they have skirts, stabilizers, or similar assemblies.

Levitator: Most telekinetics, wizards, etc. use unmodified Flight. Those who fly using antigravity have Planetary (-5%). Space Flight (+50%) is common, but incompatible with Planetary. Supers who wish to match aircraft speeds will need Enhanced Move.

Plane: Fixed-wing flyers require both Cannot Hover (-15%) and Winged (-25%), and generally have noisy propellers or jets that qualify for Nuisance Effect (-5%). Enhanced Move is common.

Rocket: Realistic rockets have Newtonian Space Flight (+25%), while space-opera models have Space Flight (+50%). Add Space Flight Only (-75%) if the rocket can only travel through space. Rockets are noisy and dangerous enough to rate Nuisance Effect (-5%). Enhanced Move is essential.

Vertol: A vertol flies by directing thrust both straight down to counteract gravity and behind it to move laterally. Its numerous control surfaces qualify as Small Wings (-10%), Most vertols are extremely loud – a Nuisance Effect (-5%). Enhanced Move is likely.

Many traits work like limited Flight: Catfall (p. 43), for heroes who can only glide downward; Super Jump (p. 79), for those who can defy gravity for short hops; and Walk on Air (p. 87), for individuals who can climb or walk skyward. For interstellar “flight,” Warp (p. 88) with the Hyperjump limitation is usually a better model.

Divine, magical, psionic, and spirit powers generally let the user fly like a levitator, while elemental powers tend to work more like a rocket, vertol, or hovercraft. People with animal-control or shapeshifting powers might sprout wings and fly like a bird or a glider. Talent adds to control rolls, and to rolls against the Aerobatics and Flight skills.

Newtonian Space Flight: As Space Flight (below), except that your space Move - or your space top speed, if you have Enhanced Move (Space) - is actually your 'delta-v': the total velocity change you can manage in space before running out of reaction mass. For instance, you could accelerate up to your delta-v and stay there (like a missile), or to half your delta-v and then decelerate to a stop at the end of your trip (like a conventional spacecraft). Once you have made velocity changes equal to your delta-v, you must refuel before you can change your velocity in space again. +25%.

Space Flight: You can fly in space or a vacuum (such as on the moon). Your space Move is Basic Speed x 2. If you want to be able to accelerate constantly to reach a higher top speed, like a rocket, buy Enhanced Move (Space). This will let you accelerate or decelerate each turn by an amount equal to your space Move, up to your enhanced top speed. For a 'realistic' space move that lets you accelerate indefinitely in a vacuum (up to the speed of light), you'll want Enhanced Move 25-27 (Space). This is incompatible with all other special modifiers except Space Flight Only. +50%.

Cannot Hover: You must always move at least 1/4 your top airspeed (round up) when flying. This is incompatible with Controlled Gliding and Gliding. -15%.

Controlled Gliding: Like Gliding (below) in most respects, but you can gain altitude by riding updrafts or 'thermals.' A typical ascent rate is one yard per second. You can locate thermals, if any are present, on a successful IQ or Meteorology roll (one attempt per minute). -45%.

Gliding: You cannot gain altitude. With a running leap, you can launch yourself with an air Move equal to Basic Move. Each turn, you can change velocity by up to 10 yards/second x local gravity in Gs (Earth's gravity is 1G). To accelerate, you must descend by 1 yard for each 1 yard/second added to velocity; top speed is Basic Move x 4 (but you can go faster if towed). To decelerate, you must fly level. If you do not descend at least 1 yard, you automatically decelerate by 1 yard/second that turn. When working out turning radius, your basic air Move is 10 x local gravity in Gs. Each level of Enhanced Move (Air) either doubles top speed or halves deceleration in level flight (e.g., one level means you only lose 0.5 yard/second in level flight); specify which when you buy it. -50%.

Lighter Than Air: You fly by becoming lighter than air (or gaseous). A wind moves you 1 yard/second, in the direction it is blowing, per 5 mph of wind speed. If the wind happens to be blowing in the direction you wish to travel, this adds to your Move; otherwise, your Move goes down as you fight against the breeze. -10%.

Low Ceiling: You cannot fly very high. This does not limit speed in any way, but the GM may require Aerobatics rolls to dodge obstacles near the ground. A 30-foot ceiling is -10%; a 10-foot ceiling is -20%; and a 5-foot ceiling is -25%.

Planetary: Your Flight works by “pushing off” against a planet’s gravitational or magnetic field. It’s useless in the absence of a planet. This is incompatible with all types of Space Flight. -5%.

Requires Surface: You fly by “pushing off” of surfaces. You can stay airborne for at most five seconds. After that, you must push off again by moving close enough to a rigid surface (wall, bamboo cane, etc.) – or any surface, even water, in a cinematic game – to touch it with part of your body. This doesn’t require a maneuver. Otherwise, you start to fall! -20%.

Slow: Your base flight Move is less than your Basic Speed x 2. For -25%, it equals your Basic Speed; for -45%, it is Move 1.

Small Wings: As Winged (below), except that your wingspan is no more than half your height. You use your wings to steer and to stabilize your flight - not to lift. If your wings are crippled in flight, roll against Aerobatics skill (or default) to land safely. -10%.

Space Flight Only: You can only take this in conjunction with Space Flight or Newtonian Space Flight. You can fly only in space; you have air Move 0 in atmosphere. You require a boost to reach space from any planet with an atmosphere, and are incapable of atmospheric reentry. -75%.

Winged: You use large wings or skin flaps to fly. Wingspan is at least twice your height. In order to take off, land, or maneuver, you must have an open area with a radius equal to your wingspan in all directions. If your wings are bound, or if a wing is crippled (more than 1/3 of your wings, if you have more than two), you cannot fly. Treat wings as arms for the purpose of targeting and crippling. If you wish to strike blows or manipulate objects with your wings, you must pay for them as Strikers or Extra Arms in addition to the cost of Flight. -25%.

You plan so well that you can declare yourself to have taken retroactive actions. You may do this once per game session for each level of Foresight. The action must be something you did in the past that has a specific result right now. There are some limits on this, however.

1. It must be an action you could realistically have taken. If you’re whisked away to a secret headquarters for the first time, you cannot say that you’ve previously disabled the alarm system, because you’d never been there or even known where “there” is. You could say that you thought to bring along electronics tools with which to do so now, though. You also must possess all of the skills and abilities necessary to have accomplished the task (see below), though you may rely on skill defaults, if applicable.

2. It cannot directly contradict any established facts. If you’re being shot at, you cannot say that you decided to wear full body armor today, as no one could have overlooked that! You can say that you put on a concealed Kevlar vest this morning, but only if you haven’t taken your shirt off recently. However, if you’ve been injured by previous shots, the “sudden reveal” of your vest doesn’t change your previous injuries! Reconcile this however you can (e.g., the previous bullets must have missed the vest); if you cannot, this is not a legal use of Foresight.

3. It cannot be obvious. No one who wasn’t involved can be aware of the action; its effects must lie in wait, unnoticed, until this very moment. So you cannot retroactively attack a foe or speak with him, because this would contradict established facts from the foe’s point of view. For indirect interaction (e.g., picking someone’s pocket), the GM should make your roll (see below) in secret, as a Quick Contest against the antagonist’s Per or an appropriate skill. If you win, you acted unnoticed; otherwise, either you failed or he saw what you did and can now turn the situation around to his own benefit, using your Foresight against you!

Some actions are automatic; e.g., it requires no roll to remember to tuck a handcuff key under your tongue. For others, the GM should require whatever roll or rolls would be necessary. (Indirect interaction always demands a roll of some sort; use DX or IQ if nothing else fits.) If he feels that you’re trying to do too much as a single “retroaction,” he can either forbid it or penalize every roll involved (-2 per “extra action” is usually fair). If the roll fails, then your planning fell through; this still counts as a use of Foresight.

Any consequences of the action are paid for now, not in the past. (This may not be realistic, but it’s the only way to prevent certain kinds of abuse, as well as to keep the GM sane.) For example, if you cast a spell in the past, you lose the FP now; if you entered a room full of toxic gas, the cyclic damage begins now; if you bribed someone, you must pay the money now; and so on.

With GM permission, you can involve other people in your past action. Each person must have been present at the time and able to act; the limitations above apply to everyone. Only voluntary help is possible; tricking an unsuspecting person into having assisted you in the past would be an action all on its own!

The 10-point version of this trait allows you to take any retroactive action, subject to GM approval and the limits above. The 5-point version must be limited to a specific type of action or actions pertaining to a specific situation, and should be written as (e.g.) “Foresight 1 (Ambushes) [5].” Suitable examples include (but are not limited to):

Ambushes: Being ready for surprise attacks.

Backup: Calling friends in advance for assistance.

Getaways: Stashing vehicles, unlocking doors, etc.

Gizmos: Bringing along useful gear.

Loyalty: Anticipating betrayals, lies, and moles.

Research: Creating in-depth dossiers, maps, psych evaluations, etc.

Survival: Preparing for acts of God and forces of nature.

Swaps: Trading one thing for another when no one’s looking.

The GM should set the limit on how much Foresight each player can take. A suggested cap is no more than 15 points spent on any combination of Foresight. For example, a “big brain” might take Foresight 1 [10] + Foresight 1 (Research) [5], while the ex-soldier could have Foresight 3 (Ambushes) [15].

You are a natural inventory. You can modify existing equipment and - given sufficient time and money - invent entirely new gadgets as described under Gadgeteering. This lets you design gadgets quickly, and makes it easy to realize higher-TL innovations. This advantage comes in two levels:

Gadgeteer: You are a 'cinematic' gadgeteer, but your work still takes days or months, and requires a good deal of money and expensive equipment. 25 points.

Quick Gadgeteer: You can throw together wondrous gadgets in minutes or hours, and can get by with scrounged-together spare parts that cost a few percent of what a 'realistic' inventor would have to spend. This level is definitely unsuitable for realistic campaigns! The hero can use Time Spent (p. B346) to further reduce the listed times, and can try a roll at -10 to perform a task instantly - often with a swift kick! 50 points.

H4xx0r: You don't truly invent, but you can improvise solutions to computer-related problems. Minor tasks take 10 minutes and a skill roll: Computer Operation to link any two computers, however dated or incompatible; Computer Programming to reprogram any robot, missile, or similar machine using its built-in keypad; Cryptography to design a completely new cipher (normally takes a day); or Electronics Repair (Computers) to fix any computer that hasn't been utterly destroyed. Creating something from parts takes an hour and a skill roll - use Computer Programming to adapt any program to do a similar task (e.g., transform Quake into targeting software), or Electronics Repair to assemble a computer good enough to avoid equipment penalties, provided you have electronics to cannibalize. Writing a program from nothing takes you a night (12 hours, for the literal-minded) and a Computer Programming roll, and yields software that does whatever the plot calls for (subject to GM permission). -50%.

Solder and Duct Tape: You're an ace with electrical and electronic devices other than computers. Ordinary repairs (e.g., fixing a cell phone dropped in water) or improvising a device from appropriate parts (e.g., a bug from a cell phone - or almost anything, if you have access to a fully stocked shop) takes 10 minutes and a roll against the most relevant Electronics Repair specialty. Extraordinary repairs (e.g., fixing a phone crushed by a car) and improvising from inappropriate parts (e.g., a bug from a calculator) work identically, but take an hour. -50%.

Specialized: This is a new -50% special limitation for Gadgeteer or Quick Gadgeteer. Your Gadgeteer applies only to a limited set of technologies. Outside of that narrow range, you are a normal, noncinematic engineer. You must choose what to specialize in – valid options include:

Armaments: Anything involving melee weapons, firearms, beam weapons, explosives, etc.

Biology/Biological: Anything involving diseases, mutations, physiology, medicine, etc.

Chemical: Nonmagical brews of all sorts, from drugs to toxic waste.

Computers: Anything involving computers, robots, programs, etc.

Electronics: Anything involving circuits, relays, batteries, etc. – but not computers.

Magical: Inventing new spells.

Mechanics: Anything involving gears, springs, wheels, etc. – but nothing powered by electricity.

Nanotech: Engineering and defeating nanomachines.

Nuclear/Radioactive: Gizmos that rely on or shoot radiation, whether to cure, kill, mutate, or reanimate.

Robotics: Everything from tiny bug-bots, through androids, to giant mecha.

Vehicles: All forms of transportation, though not their accessories or weaponry. This overlaps significantly with Electronics and Mechanics, but only where vehicles are concerned.

Specialties are by theme, not skill, and you may sometimes need skills that aren’t obviously in your area; e.g., Bioengineering (Genetic Engineering) to mutate with a radiation beam. A specialty is fully general within its theme!

Zombies: The GM may allow a Zombies specialty that covers only creating and curing zombies – but all kinds of zombies. This is normally just an exotic form of Specialized, but it can be taken in conjunction with one of the usual forms to greatly limit your mad science to specific subtypes of zombies: Biological Zombies, Radioactive Zombies, etc. -50%, or -80% if doubly specialized.

You have experience working in one or more gravitational fields other than your native one, and your reflexes adapt quickly to the way objects move and fall in those fields. You suffer only half the usual DX penalty for different gravity (see Different Gravity). In situations where low gravity would make a task easier, you roll at full DX, plus the bonus for low gravity, plus an extra +1. For instance, if a normal person would get +2 to catch a ball in low gravity, you would get +3.

This trait costs 1 point per gravity field with which you have experience. For instance, an Earth native who works on the moon might have G-Experience (0.16G). To enjoy the benefits of G-Experience in all gravity fields, buy G-Experience (All) for 10 points.

You always seem to have just the piece of gear you need. Once per game session per level of this advantage, you may pull out one small item of equipment that you could have been carrying. This 'gizmo' remains undefined until you reveal it. It does not even 'enter play' until you take it out; thus, it cannot be damaged, lost, stolen, or found in a search.

A Gizmo must be small enough to fit in an ordinary coat pocket, and must meet one of three criteria:

1. An item you own but did not specifically state you were carrying. For instance, if you own a handgun, and get ambushed while driving to church, you could pull out your pistol - even if the police searched your vehicle five minutes ago and found no weapons!

2. An item that you probably own, and that is in keeping with your character concept, but that is minor or ignorable enough to leave unspecified. For instance, a policeman might happen to be carrying a spare handcuff key, while a wizard might have some eye of newt. The GM has the final say, but should be lenient if the item you wish to have is consistent with your character story.

3. An inexpensive device widely available at your tech level. For instance, if you need to light the fuse on some dynamite, you could pull out a box of matches - and they would work, even if you just took an involuntary swim in the creek.

Each Gizmo you can use per game session (maximum of three) costs 5 points. Note that this ability is not realistic! The GM may wish to limit it further, or forbid it, in a realistic campaign.

Those with Gunslinger often use Gizmos to represent pieces of gear they own but didn't specify that they brought with them, or consumable goods (reloads, spare parts, etc) that they might have kept handy for an emergency.

The GM may allow PCs with Gunslinger to buy Gizmos with Accessibility, Only for Gun Fu, -20% - that is, for 4 points apiece. Each Gizmo lets the shootist pull a single piece of gear out of thin air once per game session. This can't be heavier than Basic Lift/10 lbs. nor have a Bulk worse than -4. Allowed items fall into two categories:

1. Kit the gunslinger owns but didn't specify he was carrying. This means a modest-sized gun, a shooting accessory (optics, suppressor, etc.), or Armoury tools that the hero currently has stashed somewhere. Signature Gear and firearms with Weapon Bond are definitely valid! Treat a preaccessorized gun that falls within the weight and Bulk limits as a single item. Once revealed, the Gizmo works as if it had been carried all along, and it counts as encumbrance.

2. Consumables. Each Gizmo can give one reload (belt, clip, magazine, power cell, speedloader, etc.) or parts enough for one repair or modification. These things don't have to be among the gunman's purchased gear. Parts or ammo can be worth at most 1% of the campaign's starting money.

Those with the Gadgeteer advantage have more latitude. In addition to the usual items available, a Gadgeteer may specify that his Gizmo is one of his inventions (which must still be small). Instead of pulling an existing gadget 'out of his pocket', a Gadgeteer can use his Gizmo to let him build what he needs on the spot. He must still possess or find the appropriate materials, and know any required skills. The GM should roll secretly against the relevant skill, at -2 or worse. A failed roll means the device doesn't work (this still 'uses up' the Gizmo). A critical failure means the device backfires spectacularly!

You can quickly fiddle with a weapon or piece of equipment to make it “just right” for yourself or an ally. This requires no roll, just one minute of time. Afterward, you or your ally gains +1 to all skill rolls to use it. For gear you use yourself, this lasts as long as you choose; for others, this lasts for 1d+1 hours. The total pieces of “boosted” gear that each individual may have are equal to the level of the trait. This is items per person, not total.

Example: Artemis St. Claire has four levels of Goldilocks Gear and is handing out tools of breaking and entering for an assault on a vampire’s castle lair. She tweaked four items for herself, and another four went to her cousin, Luna, but time constraints mean just a steam-powered grappling hook apiece for everybody else.

Advantages: Cosmic Power (Immediate Preparation Required, 1 minute, -30%; Trait-Limited, Equipment Bond or Weapon Bond only, -40%) [3/level] + Affliction (Advantage, Equipment Bond, +10%; Advantage, Weapon Bond, +2%*; Cannot Affect Self, -50%; Contact Agent, -30%; Cumulative (Cannot accumulate bonds more than level, -50%), +150%; Extended Duration, 100¥, +80%; Immediate Preparation Required, 1 minute, -30%; Melee Attack, Reach C, Cannot Parry, -35%) [20/level].

* This is an alternate enhancement to Advantage, Equipment Bond, thus reducing the cost by 1/5.

Prerequisites: Any weapon skill, and any of Armoury (any weapon specialty) or Connoisseur (any weapon specialty).

You own a weapon so suited to you that you enjoy +1 to skill rolls to use it (including Fast-Draw rolls), +1 to Parry with it, and +1 to its damage. This is a higher level of the Weapon Bond perk; the two don’t “stack,” but you can upgrade a Weapon Bond to a Greater Weapon Bond with the GM’s permission. Like that perk, this gift doesn’t supply the weapon – obtain that by buying it, finding it, taking Signature Gear, etc.

There are two catches. First, if you permanently part ways with the weapon, you lose the 5 points spent on this power-up – no refunds! Second, any melee fought without the weapon in hand puts you off-kilter. You must fight another battle using the weapon at no bonuses before the benefits return. The GM decides what a “battle” is, but cheesy tricks like killing slow zombies and sparring with allies shouldn’t count.

Advantages: Higher Purpose (Always use this weapon) [5]. The rules for losing and regaining bonuses cover the built-in Code of Honor.

You can grow - really grow! As your size increases, so must your ST (or you would collapse under your own weight). Your equipment doesn't change size!

Each level of Growth lets you increase your Size Modifier by +1. Find your final height from the Size Modifier Table. Increases in SM affect your arm and leg length when calculating reach and determining whether you can negotiate obstacles; see Size Modifier and Reach. It takes one second to modify your SM by +1 (or by -1 as you return to normal size).

If you attempt to grow in a room, vehicle, container, etc. that isn't large enough to hold you, your growth normally stops. However, if maximum thrust damage for your current ST is greater than the wall or ceiling's DR, you burst through it. This takes one second per point of DR.

You must buy the ST necessary to support your form separately. This is 5 x final height in yards. If your ST increases with height and is only available when you grow, you may buy it with the Size limitation (see Strength). Use your maximum SM to determine the limitation value. At intermediate SMs, find your height as a fraction of your maximum height. This is the fraction of your extra ST available to you at that SM (round down).

Example: A 6'-tall character (SM 0) has Growth 4. He can grow to SM +4, giving him a maximum height of 10 yards. He must buy ST 50 to support himself. If he has ST 15 and gains +35 ST only at full height, he may buy his +35 ST with a -40% Size limitation. At SM +1, he will be 3 yards tall. This is 30% of his final height, so he will have 30% of +35 ST, or +10 ST, for ST 25. Similarly, he'll be 5 yards tall with ST 32 at SM +2, 7 yards tall with ST 39 at SM +3, and 10 yards tall with ST 50 at SM +4.

Growth nearly always occurs in the context of super-powers or “being a god.” Few other mythic or fictional explanations exist for Growth, and there’s no realistic rationale for it. Supers and gods can generally enlarge their equipment as they grow, which calls for the Can Carry Objects enhancement.

The GM should permit those with Growth to buy Enhanced Move (Ground) to reflect their vast stride. A reasonable limit is levels of Enhanced Move equal to half the level of Growth. If this Enhanced Move appears gradually as the character grows, it requires the Size limitation, just like additional ST.

Growth is for entities that change size. Permanently huge beings don’t have Growth (Always On) – they just have a large Size Modifier. High SM is a zero-cost feature for aliens, monsters, gods, and anything else the GM feels should have it. The drawbacks of being an easy target and paying extra for giant-sized equipment offset the discount on the price of ST and HP (the Size limitation).

Growth suits any power that changes the fundamental nature of matter or moves mass between universes. It also fits the cosmic powers of deities – and sometimes the divine powers they grant their servants. Finally, it meshes nicely with the theme of plant-related powers. Talent doesn’t affect die rolls, but those with multiple levels of Growth and Talent may adjust their SM by up to ±(Talent+1) per second instead of just ±1.

Maximum Size Only: You can only assume normal or maximum size. Instead of growing at +1 SM per second, you grow to your maximum SM - or revert back to your usual SM - in one second. The limitation of no intermediate SMs (restricting your use of this ability in close quarters) cancels out the enhancement of rapid growth (a useful benefit in combat). +0%.

Prerequisites: Gun! at 21+ and Gunslinger.

Anyone with Gun! can roll against their skill to pistol-whip a target, but you can also use it to parry melee attacks at 3 + (Gun! / 2), or slap away guns used against you in melee combat. Treat this as a fencing parry (p. B376).

Roll against your Gun! skill to strike with a firearm. Treat pistols and any Bulk -4 weapon and smaller as brass knuckles (p. B271), and most rifles and any Bulk -5 weapon or larger as a baton at Reach 1, for swing or thrust crushing damage. In all cases, add +1/die and treat your firearm as if it were a striker (p. B88) when parrying. Furthermore, if anyone actually attacks a weapon you’re wielding or have on your person, you increase its DR by 4 (most firearms have an innate DR of 4 to begin with). None of these options will unready your weapon.

Advantages: Crushing Striker (Cosmic, Any firearm wielded, +100%; Cosmic, Fencing Parry, +50%) [13] + Damage Resistance 4 (Partial, Firearms, -20%) [16].

Perks: Pistol-Fist (Gun!) [1].

You can make uncannily precise shots without aiming. This ability works with any weapon that uses Beam Weapons, Gunner, Guns, or Liquid Projector skill. It gives no bonuses when using muscle-powered missile weapons (but the GM is free to introduce a low-tech version that works with Blowpipe, Bow, Crossbow, Sling, etc.)

When firing single shots (RoF 1-3) from a one-handed weapon, you get the Accuracy bonus of your weapon without the need for an Aim maneuver. When using a two-handed weapon or automatic fire, you get half the Accuracy bonus (round up) without the need to Aim. If you do Aim, you always get full Acc, and bracing, scopes, and additional seconds of Aim provide the usual benefits.

It also provides the following combat effects:

• While you can't add your gun's Acc bonus when you Move and Attack, you can ignore its Bulk penalty as well as any extra penalties the GM assesses for jumping or acrobatics on foot. This makes Close-Quarters Battle redundant for you.
• Ignore the -2 for pop-up attacks. You enjoy the benefits of Cool Under Fire without needing that perk.
• Ignore the rules for Bulk in close combat. You don't get your Acc bonus there, but you never suffer a Bulk penalty. Close-Hip Shooting is unnecessary for you.
• When firing a gun with RoF 2-4, you can spread your shots between targets without using Spraying Fire (p. B409). Each attack is at -3 against two targets, -6 against three, or -9 against four.
• Ignore the Hypnotism and Power Blow prerequisites for Invisibility Art and Flying Leap, respectively.
• Halve the default penalties for Fanning, Fast-Firing, Quick-Shot, Thumbing, and Two-Handed Thumbing. If you choose to raise these techniques, buy them up from their improved defaults.
• Halve the sum of all Fast-Draw (Ammo) penalties and round in your favor. You can easily reload while moving, crouching behind cover, etc.

This ability is intended for cinematic games with an 'action movie' ambience. The GM may wish to forbid it in a completely realistic campaign.

At the GM's option, you can buy a cheaper version using the Accessibility limitation.

Arsenal: All one-handed ranged weapons used with Beam Weapons, Guns, and Liquid Projector (beam pistols, handguns, self-defense sprays, and machine pistols and sawed-off shotguns used in one hand); all two-handed ranged weapons used with Beam Weapons, Guns, and Liquid Projector (all varieties of long arms, from shotguns to flamethrowers to laser rifles); or everything used with just one of the three skills above (e.g., “Beam Weapons Only” or “Gunner Only”). -20%.

Gun Rack: All one-handed ranged weapons used with either Beam Weapons, Guns, or Liquid Projector (e.g., “One-Handed Guns Only” or “One-Handed Beam Weapons Only”); all two-handed ranged weapons used with either Beam Weapons, Guns, or Liquid Projector (e.g., “Two-Handed Guns Only” or “Two-Handed Beam Weapons Only”); or everything used with one specialty of the three skills above (e.g., “Guns (Pistol) Only” or “Beam Weapons (Rifle) Only”). -40%.

Type: A subset of everything used with one specialty of the three skills above (e.g., “Revolvers Only” or “Blaster Pistols Only”). -60%.

Model: One specific model of ranged weapon (e.g., “Colt Model 1873 Only” or “Ford 'Solo' Blaster Only”). -80%.

You are incredibly difficult to kill. Each level of Hard to Kill gives +1 to HT rolls made for survival at -HP or below, and on any HT roll where failure means instant death (due to heart failure, poison, etc.) If this bonus makes the difference between success and failure, you collapse, apparently dead (or disabled), but come to in the usual amount of time - see Recovering from Unconsciousness. A successful Diagnosis roll (or a Mechanic roll, for machines) reveals the truth.

Example: Bruno has HT 12, 15 HP, and Hard to Kill 4. He takes 45 points of damage, which reduces him to -30 HP. He must make two HT rolls to survive: one at -15 HP, one at -30 HP. He rolls an 11 for the first one, but on the second roll, he gets a 14. This is above his HT (12), but below his modified HT (12 + 4 = 16). He passes out, and his foes leave him for dead. Roughly a day later, he'll regain consciousness - injured, but not dead!

In a realistic campaign, the GM may wish to limit characters to Hard to Kill 1 or 2.

You are hard to knock out. Each level of Hard to Subdue gives +1 to any HT roll to avoid unconsciousness - whether as a result of injury, drugs, or ultra-tech weapons - and to resist supernatural abilities that cause unconsciousness. In a realistic campaign, the GM may wish to limit characters to Hard to Subdue 1 or 2.

You have the ability to heal others. You must be in physical contact with the subject. To activate your power, concentrate for one second and make an IQ roll. Roll at -2 if the subject is unconscious.

You can use Healing in two ways:

Heal Injuries: On a success, you can heal any number of HP. This costs you 1 FP per 2 HP healed (round up). Failure costs 1d FP, but you can try again; critical failure also causes the recipient 1d damage. Even 1 HP of healing will stop bleeding. By rolling at -6, you can repair a crippled but whole limb if you completely heal the HP lost to the crippling injury. For instance, to heal a hand crippled by 4 points of damage, make an IQ-6 roll and spend 2 FP. Each healer gets only one attempt per crippled limb. Healing cannot restore lost limbs or bring back the dead.

Cure Disease: This requires an IQ roll at a modifier determined by the GM - from +1 for the common cold to -15 for AIDS. The FP cost is equal to twice the penalty, minimum 1 FP. For instance, it would cost 6 FP to cure a disease that calls for an IQ-3 roll.

If used more than once per day on a given subject, apply a cumulative -3 per successful healing of the same type (injury or disease) on that subject. This peanlty accumulates until a full day has passed since the most recent healing.

Healing works on your own race and on all 'similar' races. In a fantasy campaign, for instance, all warm-blooded humanoid races (elves, dwarves, orcs, halflings, etc.) would be 'similar.'

Use Healing for the gifts of those who can repair injuries and cure diseases instantly, without any special medical knowledge. Holy healers should note that the Faith Healing enhancement is simply a special case of the Xenohealing enhancement: “Those my god deems worthy.” Faith Healing isn’t the same as the Divine modifier – Healing can have either modifier on its own, or both.

Those who can only heal themselves have Regeneration or Regrowth. An Affliction with the Advantage enhancement can grant these traits to others, however, and serve the same purpose as Healing.

Cyborgs and robots with built-in medical equipment for the First Aid, Physician, or Surgery skill should simply buy Accessory perks. A first-aid kit, physician’s tools, and surgical instruments are three separate perks.

Healing is the core ability of the Healing power, which is usually chior psi-based, and frequently an ability of “good” divine, moral, and spirit powers. Talent adds to all IQ rolls made to use the advantage.

Faith Healing: Your power works by channeling spiritual energy. This lets you cure anyone the spirits or gods deem worthy of healing, regardless of race. However, you (and possibly your subject) must behave in a manner consistent with the interests and moral codes of your supernatural allies, or this ability will not work. You may not combine Faith Healing with Own Race Only or Xenohealing. +20%.

Xenohealing: You can heal beings quite dissimilar from yourself. Examples, assuming you are human: All Mammals, +20%; All Earthly Life, +40%; All Carbon-Based Life, +60%; Anything Alive, +80%; Anything Animate (including undead, golems, etc), +100%.

Affects Self: You can also heal yourself, provided you’re conscious. Shock penalties apply to any Healing roll made on the turn after you’re wounded. +50%.

Cure Affliction: You can neutralize ongoing Afflictions – including the Affliction-like effects of the Side Effect and Symptoms enhancements. This requires an IQ roll at -1 per full +50% the target effect is worth as an enhancement to Affliction. FP cost is equal to twice the penalty, minimum 1 FP. For instance, blindness is a +50% Disadvantage enhancement, so to cure blindness caused by Affliction, Side Effect, or Symptoms would require a roll at -1 and cost 2 FP. +60%.

Restore Limbs: Your patients can regrow their lost limbs. Treat it as restoring crippled limbs, but at either an extra -2 penalty or an extra 2 FP cost. +80%.

Disease Only: You can only cure disease. -40%.

Injuries Only: You can only heal injuries. -20%.

Own Race Only: This is only available in campaigns with multiple sapient races. -20%.

Psychic Healing: Your ability is part of the Psychic Healing psi power. -10%.

Affliction Only: You can only neutralize Afflictions, as described for Cure Affliction; you can’t heal injury or cure disease. -40%.

Capped: You can spend only a limited number of FP per use. This limits the severity of the diseases you can cure, requires multiple uses to heal serious injuries (taking extra time and incurring the usual -3 per previous successful healing), and may prevent you from repairing crippled limbs. This is worth -25% for a cap of 2 FP, -20% for 4 FP, -15% for 6 FP, -10% for 8 FP, and -5% for 10 FP. More than 10 FP isn’t an appreciable limitation.

Empathic: When you heal others, you take on the injuries, diseases, and Afflictions you remove instead of paying FP. These affect you even if you have specific immunities to them. They get better at the usual “natural” rate unless cured via medicine or a special ability (e.g., you might “transfer” your wounds to someone else with Leech). Empathic is incompatible with Capped. -50%.

Extended auditory capabilities such as Parabolic Hearing, Subsonic Hearing, and Ultrahearing are appropriate for predators that locate or track pray using sound – or for supers whose abilities emulate those of such creatures. These traits are especially common among fictional heroes with Bad Sight or Blindness.

Individuals who can “see” using sound should take Sonar (see Scanning Sense), or Dark Vision with the Hypersensory enhancement. A heightened ability to feel vibrations rather than hear them is Sensitive Touch or Vibration Sense.

Hearing-related abilities are a good fit for the elemental Sound/Vibration power, ESP, and even Psychokinesis, if it includes a feedback mechanism that lets the psychokinetic sense vibrations in the air. Talent adds to Hearing rolls when using these special senses.

You can switch among fully functional neuter, male, and female forms. The process takes 10 seconds (Preparation Required, Takes Extra Time, and Takes Recharge are common limitations).

You can draw and shoot a bow quickly. To do so, take a Ready maneuver to get an arrow. On your next turn, make a Bow roll at -3 to ready your bow in no time. Failure means you can only ready, but success lets you attack at -3 on the same turn! Both penalties are only -1 if you have Weapon Master (Bow). This trick shaves a second off the usual two-second ready time, letting you shoot every other turn. By making a Fast-Draw (Arrow) roll to ready an arrow instantly before either roll above, you can shoot every turn!

You’re also a “natural” with the bow in general. Whenever you Attack or All-Out Attack, add your bow’s Accuracy bonus without taking an Aim maneuver (if you Aim, add another +1 after one second, or +2 after two). When you Move and Attack or are in close combat, ignore your bow’s Bulk penalty instead of adding Acc. Finally, ignore penalties for crazy positions or acrobatics while shooting, and halve similar penalties to Fast-Draw (Arrow).

Crossbow-wielders with the advantage Heroic Archer (Crossbow) enjoy all the benefits of Heroic Archer, with the exception of the Quick-Shooting Bows rules. Instead, heroic crossbowmen reduce reloading times with crossbows by 25%. This shaves off one second with a hand-drawn crossbow, or five seconds with a goat’s foot. This is cumulative with the Quick Reload perk (p. 25). With a successful Fast-Draw (Arrow) roll, someone with this advantage and Quick Reload (Hand-Drawn Crossbow) has Shots 1(1) and can shoot his bow every other turn!

You have remarkably fine motor skills. Each level (to a maximum of four) gives +1 to DX for tasks that require a delicate touch. This includes all DX-based rolls against Artist, Jeweler, Knot-Tying, Leatherworking, Lockpicking, Pickpocket, Sewing, Sleight of Hand, and Surgery, as well as DX-based rolls to do fine work with Machinist or Mechanic (e.g., on clockwork). This bonus doesn't apply to IQ-based tasks or large-scale DX-based tasks, nor does it apply to combat-related die rolls of any kind.

You are as susceptible to injury as anyone else, but you don't feel it as much. You never suffer a shock penalty when you are injured. In addition, you get +3 on all HT rolls to avoid knockdown and stunning - and if you are tortured physically, you get +3 to resist. The GM may let you roll at Will+3 to ignore pain in other situations.

High Pain Threshold is included in Supernatural Durability; if you have the latter disadvantage, you cannot take this one.

You are driven to exceed your normal limits in one specific pursuit. You must state this exactly as if it were a Code of Honor disadvantage: 'Defend all women,' 'Slay all demons,' etc. If, in the GM's judgment, you are unfaltering in your pursuit of your Higher Purpose, you get +1 to all die rolls that pertain directly to the pursuit of your cause. If you deviate from your Higher Purpose, you lose this bonus… and the GM is free to penalize you for bad roleplaying just as if you had ignored a Code of Honor.

A Higher Purpose must be specific. Higher Purposes such as 'Fight evil' or 'Oppose authority figures' are too broad to be balanced. In addition, a Higher Purpose must entail genuine risk and inconvenience. The GM should not allow pragmatic Higher Purposes like 'Faithfully serve my superiors.' All Higher Purposes are subject to GM approval.

Higher Purpose (Deliver the package): In an action scene, you get +1 to all success rolls made to ferry an important cargo or passenger: vehicular skill and Dodge rolls, Mechanic rolls to repair breakdowns, HT rolls to remain conscious at the wheel, etc.

Higher Purpose (“Medic!”): In an action scene, you get +1 to all success rolls made to aid injured allies: Dodge and movement skill rolls to reach them under fire, HT rolls to stay conscious on your way there, medical skill rolls to patch them up, etc.

A great many stories revolve around a human and a monster falling love. The relationship usually doesn’t last long as soon they realize they can’t be together (though sometimes it works out!). Love strikes a chord deep in most people; it’s something everyone seeks, and thus becomes fodder for roleplaying as well.

True Love: You get a +1 to all rolls to protect, assist, find, etc. your True Love, including Will rolls to resist compulsions to hurt him or self-control rolls to resist disadvantages that might affect them – Uncontrollable Appetite (Blood), Berserk, and so on.

Prerequisite: Any combat skill.

Hunter Training halves hit location penalties for a particular combat skill and mode of attack (drop any fractions and round up; e.g., -7 becomes -3 and -5 becomes -2), when used against a specific hit location. You must specialize by combat skill, mode of attack, and target. Any combat skill is theoretically viable, but some may be more useful than others. For example, Hunter Training (Broadsword Swing at Neck) may be more useful than Hunter Training (Karate Punch at Face), while Hunter Training (Pistol Shot at Vitals) may be better still. However, to keep this power-up in check, the GM may decide that an in-game teacher is needed for someone to acquire it – and Karate Punch at Face might be all that’s available.

If you use the same Hunter Training attack repeatedly on an intelligent foe, they have +1 to defend against your third and later uses. At the GM’s option, the target may get this bonus if they ever observed you using the attack twice or more, or otherwise has cause to expect it. This never applies when fighting automatons and mindless monsters (zombies, golems, etc.).

To get the cost of this power-up, halve the absolute hit location penalty for the targeted location (round up), and add one.

Example: Hunter Training (Broadsword Swing at Neck) would cost 4 points since the hit location penalty for the neck is -5, which when halved and rounded up is -3. Taking the absolute value and adding one results in a cost of 4 points. Wildcard skills are valid choices for this power-up. For example, a commando might take Hunter Training (Gun! at Vitals) and use it with everything that skill covers. The cost remains the same. Warriors may opt to instead pay triple the final cost to have their power-up encompass all available attack modes for all of their combat skills. For example, Hunter Training (Neck!) would cost 12 points and allow the champion to use any applicable skill in any fashion with the power-up, not just a specific skill, but only to target the neck.

Techniques: Targeted Attack (H) [Varies]. The warrior’s version turns this technique into a wildcard technique, tripling the cost, but allowing more leeway in its use.

Your vision extends across the infrared, visible, and ultraviolet portions of the spectrum. This integrated picture often reveals details that are invisible to those who merely possess normal vision, Infravision, or Ultravision.

Hyperspectral Vision grants near-perfect night vision: you suffer no vision or combat penalties if there is any light at all. In total darkness, it functions exactly like Infravision. This trait also gives +3 on all Vision rolls; on all rolls to spot hidden clues or objects with Forensics, Observation, or Search skill; and on all Tracking rolls.

If you possess Hyperspectral Vision, you cannot also have Infravision or Ultravision. This trait is essentially a higher level of both those advantages. Its game effects replace the specific effects of those traits.

As described, this trait emulates realistic TL7+ sensors. The GM may permit supers to take the two special enhancements below. Neither is appropriate for real-world sensors!

Hyperspectral imaging is poised to become the dominant passive sensor technology in the late-TL8 world, making this advantage appropriate for quasi-realistic cyborgs, robots, and vehicles. It works equally well as a “scientific” explanation for seemingly paranormal visual abilities, including the sight of keen-eyed fantasy races such as Elves.

Beings that can only see light below or above the visible spectrum have Infravision or Ultravision, respectively. Heroes who just want to see in the dark should compare Night Vision and Dark Vision.

Hyperspectral Vision suits Light power and possibly Darkness power (especially if it works by absorbing light rather than blocking it). Like any extended sense, it could even be an aspect of ESP. Talent adds to Vision rolls when using this ability.

Extended Low-Band: You perceive radiation below the infrared, allowing you to 'see' microwave, radar, and radio sources. This gives no special ability to understand radio signals! +30%.

Extended High-Band: You sense radiation above the ultraviolet, allowing you to 'see' X-ray and gamma ray sources. +30%.

Extended (Special): You can perceive and see by non-electromagnetic radiation. This is mainly useful in science-fiction settings that feature weird radiation… or in worlds where magic, psi, and the like emit rays of eldritch power. +30% per added class of radiation.

Prerequisites: IQ 18+ or Science!.

Whenever you encounter unfamiliar technology, you can spend a minute examining it and make an IQ+5 roll with the penalties listed below. Level 2 lets you roll against IQ+10 instead of IQ+5.

Modifiers: -1 per for a TL below yours, -3 for two TLs, -5 for three TLs, and so on; -1 to -3 for technology that’s different from yours (e.g., nano- or steam-tech); -5 per TL above your native level; -5 for technology that’s vastly different from yours (e.g., organic-based tech); -10 or more for technology that is radically different from yours (e.g., technology based on energy “waveforms”); +2 for technology you’re already familiar with; +5 if you’ve used this ability on such technology before.

Success means you understand how to operate it and incur no penalty to use it (such as a familiarity penalty or penalty for equipment of a different TL). You still suffer the normal default penalty to skill rolls if you don’t have the necessary skill to utilize the machine; this power-up won’t give you Piloting (High-Performance Spacecraft), but you could instead try with Piloting (Aerospace) if you had that.

You may optionally ignore the time requirement, and instead roll against just your IQ. Success means you take half the usage penalties. Those with the Machine Intuition power-up (p. 19) reduce these penalties normally.

Advantages: Psychometry (Accessibility, Only to understand how technology functions, -20%; Active Only, -20%; Mundane, -30%; Reliable 5 (Accessibility, Only when taking the full amount of time, -20%) +20%; Weakened Immediate Preparation Required*, 1 minute, -15%) [7]. Level 2 increases Reliable to 10 (+40%) for 4 points. Feature: Switches penalties for time to penalties for tech level.

* As for Preparation Required, but the ability must be used immediately; it cannot be saved for later. Additionally, if the time is not taken, then the effectiveness of the ability is reduced (see the description for specifics).

Prerequisites: Any of Gizmos 1+, Patron (Modest budget or higher), or Wealth (Comfortable or higher).

You have a lot of random stuff stashed in various places; can rapidly make useful items out of spare parts; or can shake down Contacts, Allies, or Patrons to get basic equipment with nothing more than time and conversation. With 1d-3 hours (minimum of 1 hour) of effort, you can get your hands on any equipment available at your TL (including stuff normally off limits because of its LC, supernatural gear that normally can’t be bought, and so on), whose total value is equal to (10% of starting wealth per level of this trait). For example, if you had I Got That! 5 in a modern campaign, you could get up to $10,000 in gear. Those with Patron can use their starting budget (Champions, p. 53) instead, if better. Remember to account for Wealth if you have that trait and are not using a Patron for access to gear.

Alternately, you can spend a minute in your headquarters (or your lab, a facility run by your organization, etc.) to get the same amount of gear. You have this gear for as long as you need it – usually a single hunt or job – after which you must “return” it (except for expendable elements, such as bullets).

For items that are damaged, you need to pay to repair them (per the rules on p. B484) before returning them. If the gear needs minor repairs, then 5% of its cost is required. A major repair is 1d x 10% of the cost. These are paid normally.

If you don’t return nonexpendable items, for whatever reason, you lose levels in this trait equal to (cost of gear / $2,000), minimum of one level. You may optionally pay cash out of your pocket equal to its cost instead. If necessary for the plot, the GM might permit you to exchange other gear you already have. If so, treat the value of the item that you want to exchange as half its cost for this purpose.

This power-up is appropriate for anyone who might have reason to accumulate stuff or who would have no difficulty requisitioning it in a hurry – immortal inhumans living in the same city for generations, inventors with labs full of spare parts, or employees of large organizations that don’t sweat the paperwork on cheap stuff.

This is cheaper than Gizmo, but less versatile. Champions must either spend time talking to contacts or be at home, rather than pull out items on the fly.

Advantages: Gear Stash [2/level]*.

* A new form of Modular Abilities. Unlike most Modular Abilities, this is not an exotic advantage; it represents those who are unusually prepared, packrats, etc.

Prerequisites: Area Knowledge at 16+; any Influence skill at 16+; or Reaction Bonus +4 or more.

You have an easy time locating new friends and contacts. Each level gives you access to 5 points’ worth of Contacts (p. B44); see below for worked examples. Each time you access this power-up, you may choose a new Contact.

To find the desired person, you first you make an IQ roll and spend 10 minutes talking to the right people, “calling a guy,” etc. You may substitute an appropriate Area Knowledge or Influence skill for IQ, if better. If you fail your IQ or skill roll or forgo it, you can still use this ability, but you get only 2 points per level for your Contact instead. Repeated rolls suffer a cumulative -2 unless an hour of real time has passed.

Next, if the Contact has an Appearance roll, make it to see if the person will help you. If the Appearance roll fails, this ability is inaccessible for the game session; to avoid this, set the Frequency of Appearance to Constantly (p. B36) when you design the Contact.

If you like a particular Contact, you may purchase them at 1/5 cost. Doing so allows you to access that person at any time, even when you are using this ability!

Advantages: Social Networking [10/level]*.

* A new form of Modular Abilities. Unlike most Modular Abilities, this is not an exotic advantage; it represents a combination of social grace, panache, timing, and luck.

You can create lifelike illusions. By default, these are constructs of light and sound that appear in a two-yard radius around you. You can always specify a smaller area; e.g., to create an illusionary gun in your hand. Illusions lack mass and substance, and can’t affect material objects in any way besides hiding or illuminating them.

To activate your ability, take a Concentrate maneuver. This requires no special die roll. You can create animated, three-dimensional images of anything you can visualize – in any spectrum you can see – synchronized with sounds in the frequency range audible to you. These persist for as long as you concentrate.

Illusions serve mainly to deceive and distract. Roll a Quick Contest of IQ against the Perception of anyone in a position to notice your illusion. To save time, the GM can roll just once for hordes of foes with the same Per. If you win, the illusion seems real to that individual. The GM decides how he reacts. He might attack an illusionary monster, try to sit on an illusionary chair, and so on. Otherwise, he spots a flaw and realizes that the illusion isn’t real (although he might not know it’s an illusion).

Illusion sometimes requires a skill roll instead of an IQ roll. In particular, to make an illusion disturbing enough to cause a Fright Check, you must win a Quick Contest of Artist (Illusion) skill against the higher of IQ or Perception for each victim. To trick someone into believing in an illusion of someone he knows, roll the lower of your Acting or Artist (Illusion) skill against the higher of your target’s IQ or Perception.

Roll a new Quick Contest when someone you’ve already fooled suddenly changes how he’s interacting with the illusion; e.g., he attacks a monster or falls through a chair that isn’t there. If he wins or ties, you don’t simulate a believable response to his action (such as the monster dodging or the chair slipping) and he catches on.

Modifiers: Your victim gets +4 if someone who knows about the illusion warns him, or if you critically fail in a Quick Contest against someone else. He gets +10 if you create the illusion unsubtly and in plain sight, or if he examines the illusion with a sense you can’t deceive – most often touch. At the GM’s option, inappropriate illusions (e.g., a pack of rabid wolves in a submarine) give a further +1 to +10, while believable ones (e.g., you pull out an illusionary gun) give from -1 to -5. If the final modifier is a net bonus, halve it if the victim is aware of superhuman powers but not the details of your powers… for all he knows, you can summon rabid wolves!

You can easily create babbling crowds and menacing hordes, but it’s harder to animate a convincing semblance of an illusionary person for direct, personal interaction (dueling, conversation, etc.). Multiple fake people are progressively more robotic and unresponsive; anyone rolling a Quick Contest to spot the illusion is at +4 per construct after the first.

Believable or not, illusions obstruct vision as effectively as the real thing. They don’t block weapons, though. Foes aware of your location can simply shoot through your “cover” . . . and nothing prevents unbelieving opponents from walking through your illusions to reach you.

Add Area Effect (+50%/level) to increase radius and Ranged (+40%) to project illusions at a distance. Many illusionists also have Telekinesis, and add a Link to give the impression that their illusions can interact with the material world – a convincing combination good for +4 in the Quick Contest. Additional options include:

Extended: You can fool other senses. Extending the visual or auditory range beyond your own costs +1% per point the affected hearing and vision advantages are worth; e.g., +10% to deceive Infravision. Totally new senses (Radar, taste/smell, touch, Vibration Sense, etc.) cost +20% apiece. Extended, Touch creates the sensation of substance, but the illusion still can’t affect the material world; for that, link Illusion to Telekinesis.

Independence: You don’t need to concentrate to maintain your illusions. Once you’ve created them, you can hand off control to your subconscious. Independent illusions can respond in simple ways, but can’t change unless you concentrate. For instance, an illusionary pistol would make a menacing “click” as you cocked it, and illusionary wolves would shy from a torch or snarl if someone came close, but to turn the gun into a sword or the wolves into tigers would require concentration. In particular, illusionary people can’t converse unless you actually concentrate. +40%.

Initiative: This improved form of Independence provides all the benefits of that enhancement (don’t take both) and gives illusionary people the semblance of free will. They can converse and move freely within your area of effect as if they had your DX, IQ, and skills. This requires no concentration. Treat these phantasms as insubstantial NPCs who are completely loyal to you, except that they don’t have thoughts and can’t carry out tasks for you – they simply react to their environment. +100%.

Mental: Instead of creating images that everyone can see, you project illusions into the mind of a specific target. You can affect anyone you can touch or see; the Ranged enhancement is unnecessary. Take a Concentrate maneuver and roll a Quick Contest: your IQ vs. the victim’s Will. You’re at -1 per person already affected. If you win, you seize control of his perceptions and can feed him artificial sensory impressions, including subtle edits (e.g., making a $5 bill look like a $100 bill), total fabrications (e.g., he’s standing on Mars without a spacesuit), and complete sensory deprivation (unless you have Auditory Only or Visual Only). These illusions never cause physical harm. Area of effect is irrelevant – it’s all in his head. You don’t control your victim’s thoughts, however. If he decides that what he’s experiencing makes no sense, he can order his body to act on the last set of impressions he felt were reliable. If he can’t see the real world, he acts at -10 – but he can still act. +100%.

Stigmata: Only available in conjunction with Mental. Your illusions are so realistic that they cause the subject to experience harmful stress or shock. To use Stigmata, you must first successfully inflict mental illusions upon your victim. Then roll a Quick Contest of IQ vs. his Will once per second. If you win, you inflict actual injury equal to your margin of victory. Specify whatever damaging effect you like – shot, eaten by tigers, fried at ground zero of a nuclear blast, etc. Suitable wounds appear on your victim’s body. Those nearby can see the wounds but not their cause; as far as they can tell, the victim is experiencing a stroke, heart attack, or similar distress. Should your victim fall unconscious for any reason (including the injury caused by this ability), you can no longer harm him. +100%.

Auditory Only: You can create sounds but not images. This is incompatible with Extended and Stigmata. -70%.

Hallucinations: You have no real control over what the subject sees. Instead, treat the subject as hallucinating (p. B429) while you have his mind hijacked. Must be combined with Mental. -50%.

Static: Your illusions are unanimated “stills.” You can’t create any effect that changes or responds to the environment. Those who perceive the illusion get +4 to realize it’s fake if it depicts something that’s usually stationary, as the reflections and shadows aren’t right. If the illusion is of something that normally moves, the bonus is +10. Static illusions are mostly useful for concealment. Static is incompatible with Auditory Only, Independent, Initiative, and Stigmata. -30%.

Visual Only: You can create images but not sounds. This is incompatible with Auditory Only and Stigmata. -30%.

To conjure material creations, take Create for bulk matter, Snatcher for complex artifacts, and Allies with the Summonable enhancement for creatures. If the goal is simply to generate concealment, Obscure is cheaper.

Illusion enhanced with Mental is a common Telepathy ability in fiction. Elemental Light power, psionic Electrokinesis, and other energy-related powers tend to generate purely physical illusions. The magical powers of fantasy illusionists can often create either kind of illusion. Even divine and spirit powers might include Illusion, for “sacred visions” or impressing worshippers. Talent adds to all rolls for any form of Illusion.

You are an 'Illuminatus' in the original sense of the word - you are enlightened. You know what's going on, and you know it intuitively.

You can discern other Illuminati on sight, with no possibility of error. Furthermore, whenever the GM requires a roll against a skill such as Current Affairs, Hidden Lore, or Intelligence Analysis to tell whether a certain strange occurrence is truly a coincidence or the result of a conspiracy, you may roll against the higher of your IQ and the specific skill in question. Finally, you can perceive and communicate with supernatural beings who are tied to Illuminated conspiracies in your game world (GM's decision). This gives you no special ability to control them, but they recognize you and treat you with a certain respect: +3 on reaction rolls.

The only drawback is that other Illuminati and spiritual beings are able to perceive your Illuminated nature, and there's nothing you can do about it except stay out of sight.

This advantage is best suited to mystical or fantastic campaigns. It is rarely appropriate in 'mundane' conspiracy campaigns. The GM is the final judge of who may possess this trait.

You can learn Imbuement Skills that grant additional capabilities to weapons ready in your hands – including your hands themselves, claws, and so on. Each level of Imbue (maximum three) gives access to more and increasingly powerful Imbuement Skills. The prerequisite level of Imbue for each skill is noted with that skill.

Unmodified Imbue is a “wild” ability that works anywhere and isn’t subject to special countermeasures, although protection effective against the type of attack that the empowered weapon delivers works normally. However, Imbue is often associated with a particular power source and subject to that source’s drawbacks; this may even be a requirement in certain game worlds. Simulate this by giving Imbue a suitable power modifier; e.g., Chi (-10%), Divine (-10%), Magical (-10%), or Psionic (-10%), all from GURPS Powers. If the power modifier is Cosmic, you only need the +50% version to bend a few limits (see individual skills) and avoid being dispelled, but you must take the +300% version if all of your Imbuement Skills can ignore DR. An upside of adding any power modifier is that the power’s Talent adds to Imbuement Skill rolls!

You can buy more than one copy of Imbue provided that all versions have power modifiers and the modifiers differ. You can give any or all of them Limited Skill Access, if you wish; this is occasionally a little cheaper than Imbue for one source with the same total number of skills, but not very often – and not by much. When you have multiple instances of Imbue like this, you must learn each Imbuement Skill for a specific source; e.g., Envenomed Weapon (Bow; Magical) isn’t the same as Envenomed Weapon (Bow; Chi).

This has one significant drawback, of course: You have to pay extra points for two or more versions of Imbue – and possibly for several versions of your favorite Imbuement Skills to go with them. This is more than offset by two major benefits, however.

The most obvious benefit is that you’ll rarely be without your imbuement abilities. If countermeasures or other problems faced by one power source cause it to fail, you can switch sources without missing a beat. If one Imbue advantage is somehow crippled or drained, you still have the other.

The most potent benefit is that you can use differently sourced versions of the same Imbuement Skill simultaneously, like any two other compatible skills, provided that you can make the skill rolls and afford the FP cost; see Multiple Skills (p. 5). This produces cumulative effects, where applicable. For instance, Envenomed Weapon gives 1d worth of poison at -3 to skill, 2d at -7, or 3d at -10, so if you knew both the Chi and Magical versions, you could avoid a tricky skill-7 roll for 2d damage by making a pair of easier skill-3 rolls for the same 2d – or, if you’re skilled, you could get 6d of poison damage, circumventing the skill’s normal 3d limit, by making two skill-10 rolls!

One special limitation is common on both wild and power-linked Imbue:

Limited Skill Access: Your Imbue only enables you to acquire some Imbuement Skills (each of which you can still buy for multiple weapon skills). The limitation is -80% for a single skill, -60% for two, -40% for three, or -20% for four skills. Access to five or more Imbuement Skills isn’t a meaningful limitation. The GM may require PCs who want two to four skills to select thematically related choices – e.g., Burning Strike and Incendiary Weapon – rather than cherry-pick favorites. This limitation doesn’t waive Imbue level prerequisites and always applies to the whole advantage; to get Limited Skill Access for skills that require Imbue 2 or 3, buy Imbue 2 or 3, respectively, and apply this limitation to the entire advantage (even if only one of your chosen skills is at the highest level!).

You can function under a wide range of gravities. For a normal human, the penalties for non-native gravity accrue in increments of 0.2G; see Different Gravity. A larger increment costs points: 5 points for 0.3G, 10 points for 0.5G, 15 points for 1G, 20 points for 5G, and 25 points for 10G. Normal humans are limited to 10 points in this trait.

Prerequisites: Gizmos 1+ and Quick Gadgeteer.

You’re brilliant at improvising items in the field. Whenever you roll vs. any skill to cobble together a single-use Gizmo, and whenever you use Inventor! to adapt one item into another, each level of this power-up (maximum five levels) lets you ignore -2 of the penalty for the final item value. For instance, Improviser 4 helps you to ignore up to -8 in penalties, allowing for an item up to $6,000,000 with no penalty!

Advantages: Quick Gadgeteer [50] acquires a variant of the Reliable enhancement: Level 1 adds Reliable 2, +10% for 5 points. Level 2 adds Reliable 4, +20% for 10 points. Level 3 adds Reliable 6, +30% for 15 points. Level 4 adds Reliable 8, +40% for 20 points. Level 5 adds Reliable 10, +50% for 25 points. Extending Reliable to several different skill rolls instead of just attribute rolls, but limiting its bonus to offsetting cost penalties, is a special effect.

You are impossible to influence through ordinary words or actions. Those who wish to use Influence skills on you (see Influence Rolls) must possess a suitable advantage: Empathy if you are a human or similar being, Animal Empathy if you're a beast, Plant Empathy if you're a plant, or Spirit Empathy if you're a demon, ghost, etc. Everyone else - however convincing - fails automatically. This trait often accompanies Unfazeable.

You can see into the infrared portion of the spectrum, allowing you to detect varying degrees of heat. This lets you fight at no penalty even in absolute darkness, if your target emits heat (this includes all living beings and most machines). It also gives you +2 on all Vision rolls to spot such targets, since their heat stands out from the background. You can follow a heat trail when tracking: add +3 to Tracking rolls if the trail is no more than an hour old.

Infravision does not let you distinguish colors, and only allows you to judge the general size and shape of heat-emitting objects, including living beings (for instance, you might have trouble telling two people of the same size apart). Roll at -4 to distinguish objects of similar size and shape. The GM may also require a Vision-4 roll to read by reflected heat. Sudden flashes of heat (e.g., a flare, fiery explosion, or infrared laser) can blind you, just as a flash of light can blind ordinary vision.

Cost depends on your capabilities:

You can only see using Infravision, and are subject to its limitations at all times: 0 points. You can switch freely between normal vision and Infravision: 10 points.

You have fewer physiological weaknesses than ordinary living beings. The cost of this advantage depends on the precise frailties eliminated. Note that some forms of Injury Tolerance include others, and that Diffuse, Homogenous, and Unliving are mutually incompatible.

Diffuse: Your body is fluid or particulate, composed of a swarm of smaller entities, or perhaps made of pure energy. This makes you immune to crippling injuries and reduces the damage you suffer from most physical blows; see Injury to Unliving, Homogenous, and Diffuse Targets. Most foes (GM's decision) cannot slam or grapple you! Diffuse includes all the benefits of No Blood, No Brain, and No Vitals.

By limiting injury from impaling and piercing damage to 1 HP per attack and that from other damage to 2 HP per attack, this trait provides limited invulnerability. Even the deadliest hits cause little more than flesh wounds. The GM might allow super-tough heroes who aren’t truly diffuse to buy this advantage. It doesn’t help against area effects, cones, or explosions, though.

Appropriate for beings made of a loose collection of tiny particles (bees, dust motes, nanites, etc.), liquid, gas, plasma, or energy. Examples include sapient swarms, living flames and tornadoes, liquid-metal robots (“nanomorphs”), and superscience “holograms” that can interact with the material world. In some settings, spirits, magical illusions, and related entities that are tangible but not solid also have this trait. 100 points.

Homogenous: Your body has no vulnerable internal organs, bones, muscles, or other mechanisms. As a result, you are less susceptible to piercing and impaling attacks; see Injury to Unliving, Homogenous, and Diffuse Targets. Homogenous includes the benefits of No Brain and No Vitals. This trait is intended for entities such as iron golems, trees, and slimes.

Use this trait for creatures made out of largely undifferentiated solid matter – living or otherwise. Common examples are dancing swords, golems, unpowered vehicles, walking plants, and anything else made of solid ice, metal, plastic, stone, wood, etc. Very dense supers often have this advantage, despite appearing superficially human. 40 points.

No Blood: You do not rely on a vital bodily fluid (like blood) for survival. You do not bleed (see Bleeding), are unaffected by blood-borne toxins, and are immune to attacks that rely on cutting off blood to part of your body. 5 points.

No Brain: Your brain - if you have one - is distributed throughout your body, or isn't your true seat of consciousness. Your opponents cannot target it for extra damage. You may have a head, but a blow to the skull or eye is treated no differently than a blow to the face (except that an eye injury can still cripple that eye). 5 points.

No Eyes: You lack eyes or other vulnerable optics, but can somehow see despite this (unless of course you suffer from Blindness.) As you have no eyes, they cannot be attacked. You are also immune to blinding attacks. 5 points.

Resistant Eyes: Your eyes are highly tolerant of damage. 1 point gives +3 to HT rolls vs eye damage, 2 gives +8 to HT rolls vs eye damage.

Hardened Eyes: Your eyes benefit from your natural 'skin' DR. 1 point gives half DR, 2 points gives full DR.

Offset Eyes: Your eyes are offset in some way that places them outside of your skill. Eye hits are considered Face hits, not Skull hits. 1 point.

Eyestalks: Damage to the eyes blows through after doing enough damage to disable the eye; all excess is lost. Attacking the base of the eyestalk eliminate the blowthrough, but the base has full DR and is treated as a face hit. 2 points.

Many Eyes: You have multiple eyes; more than one hit is required for one eye, or two for blind. 1 point for up to 4 eyes, 2 points for 5+.

No Head: You have no head at all. This includes the benefits of No Brain. As well, you lack 'skull' and 'face' hit locations, and have no need for head armor. You can still see, speak, hear, smell, taste, etc. unless you take the appropriate disadvantages. Specify how you do this (supernaturally, technologically, via organs on your torso, etc.) It is common - but not mandatory - for those with No Head to have No Neck, No Eyes, or both. 7 points.

No Neck: You have no neck. As a result, you have no 'neck' hit location, and cannot be decapitated, choked, or strangled. 5 points.

No Vitals: You have no vital organs (such as a heart or engine) that attackers can target for extra damage. Treat hits to the 'vitals' or 'groin' as torso hits. 5 points.

Unliving: Your body is not composed of living flesh. You take reduced damage from piercing and impaling attacks, but are not quite as resilient as if you were Homogenous; see Injury to Unliving, Homogenous, and Diffuse Targets. This trait is intended mainly for machines and corporeal undead.

Anything that has differentiated “vital” areas but isn’t made of living tissue is Unliving. Powered vehicles and robots, and most other complex machines, qualify – as do vampires, zombies, and similar walking corpses. A total cyborg with few living parts might qualify, at the GM’s option. 20 points.

The GM may invent new forms. Some examples of special importance:

Damage Reduction: You divide the injury you suffer after subtracting DR from damage and applying wounding modifiers. Unmodified, this trait reduces all injury – but except in high-powered supers games, the GM should consider requiring the Limited modifier; see Limited Defenses. Minimum injury from an attack that pierces DR is always 1 HP – but the GM may rule that those with Cosmic, +50% only suffer this if the injury is at least 1 HP after applying the divisor. It would be fair to restrict heroes to “Common,” “Occasional,” or even “Rare” classes, or to damage types directly related to their powers. 50 points for a divisor of 2, 75 points for 3, 100 points for 4, 125 points for 5. To price a divisor of 10 or more, find it in the Linear Measurement column of the Size and Speed/Range Table (p. B550), add 2 to the corresponding entry in the Size column, and multiply the sum by 25. This gives 150 points for a divisor of 10, 300 points for 100, 450 points for 1,000, and so on.

Independent Body Parts: If you have this form of Injury Tolerance, your limbs and extremities are separate entities. When struck there, don’t apply injury to your HP. Instead, apply it to that body part’s HP score: your HP/3 for an extremity or HP/2 for a limb (round up). 35 points, modified by special modifiers below.

• Attacks injure body parts normally with one exception: a cutting attack that would cripple a limb or extremity costs you the use of that part but inflicts no injury on you or it. Instead, it severs the body part, which falls to the ground and fights as your ally! An extremity separates from its limb, while a limb separates from your torso. Body parts have your HT. Size Modifier is your own, adjusted by the part’s hit location modifier. Other abilities are as follows:
• Arms: An arm has your DX, a Move of your ST/4, and a Dodge of DX/2 + 3. It uses your ST for striking or strangling, ST/2 for grappling or dragging things. If it has a hand, it can punch or grapple (but only the feet or legs of a standing foe), or wield a one-handed weapon at -2 damage. If it lacks a hand, it can club for punching damage.
• Leg: A leg with a foot has DX equal to your DX-2. Move is your Basic Move-3, while Dodge is your DX/2 + 3. It can leap up and kick foes for full damage. Treat a leg without a foot as an arm without a hand, but at -2 DX.
• Hand: A severed hand has your DX, Move equal to DX/2, and a Dodge of DX/2 + 3. Its only effective attack is to crawl up someone’s body (treat this as a grapple) and strangle – see p. B370. The hand has your full ST for this purpose only.
• Foot: A foot has DX equal to your DX-2, Move 1, and Dodge 4. Its only useful combat ability is to trip those who try to pass it. A fighter who tries to run past the foot must evade (see p. B368), and falls down if the foot wins.
• Round all fractions up. Where combat skills would matter, apply your relative skill level to the body part’s DX.
• A severed body part suffers injury normally from every attack but the

one that severed it. At 0 or fewer HP, it’s crippled and can’t act. Make the usual HT roll to learn whether this is permanent.

• You may reattach body parts by holding them in place for a minute. You can reattach crippled body parts if the injury is temporary or lasting, but they remain crippled. Permanently crippled body parts are destroyed.
• One final perk: should you die, the severed part lives on, and continues to attack your enemies!

Detachable Head: Your head uses these rules, too. A cutting attack to the neck that inflicts full HP or more decapitates you without injury. Your head has your DX and HT, HP/2, and Move and Dodge 0. It can bite at full ST in close combat. If your head is your seat of consciousness, your body fights as its ally. If it isn’t (for instance, if you have No Brain), it fights as an ally of your body. +15%.

Instant Reattachment: You only have to hold body parts in place for a second to reattach them. +50%.

No Reattachment: Your severed body parts are animated, but you can’t reattach them. You can’t combine this with Instant Reattachment. -60%.

Reattachment Only: Your body parts are inert when severed. Severing them causes you no injury, and you can reattach them, but they can’t fight for you. You can’t combine this with No Reattachment. -50%.

Unbreakable Bones: Your bones are nearly indestructible, or you have alternative structural support that’s difficult to damage (e.g., internal force fields). Damage to limbs and extremities still causes injury, subject to the usual maximums, but the injury needed to cripple these body parts is twice normal; that is, the amount usually required to dismember. This represents damage to the covering, not the “skeleton.” Crippling is at worst lasting; you never suffer permanent crippling or dismemberment. The GM may rule that injury that destroys your body (-10xHP) breaks your skeleton, but since you’re dead, this is a special effect. If this protection extends to your vitals and brain, add No Vitals and No Brain: your vitals and brain are in their usual locations, but your indestructible skeleton encloses them and prevents severe injury effects. 10 points.

The line between Diffuse and such traits as Insubstantiality and Shadow Form is fine indeed. The deciding factor is whether the character can affect the material world. If he can, take Diffuse.

The essence of Homogenous, Unliving, and Damage Reduction is extreme toughness. Alternatives include Supernatural Durability and Unkillable – or just lots of Damage Resistance or Hit Points. Damage Resistance is superior for those who expect never to face high-damage attacks.

Elemental powers often grant Damage Reduction (limited to their element), or give access to elemental meta-traits that include Homogenous or Diffuse. Someone with matter-control or spirit powers that let him become a semi-solid specter could also justify Diffuse. With the addition of Infiltration, Diffuse suits shapeshifting powers. The GM might allow shapeshifters with particularly outré powers to buy other forms of Injury Tolerance – No Head, No Neck, etc. – with Switchable.

Talent rarely affects Injury Tolerance, but the GM might permit those with Unliving, Homogenous, or Diffuse to add Talent to HT rolls for structural integrity; e.g., to avoid disintegration or resist Afflictions that cause Insubstantiality. Those with Independent Body Parts or Unbreakable Bones may add Talent to HT rolls for crippling.

Infiltration: For Diffuse only. Your body is a fluid that can flow through the tiniest of holes. In addition to the usual benefits of Diffuse, you can ooze through porous barriers and narrow cracks. You can’t shapeshift, stretch abnormally, or sprout new body parts – just seep under doors, through screens, etc. +40%.

Swarm: For Diffuse only. You’re a coordinated swarm of tiny creatures. You can scatter by taking a Concentrate maneuver. Your outer perimeter travels at your best applicable Move; maximum radius is 1/2 mile (buy Area Effect to change this). While scattered, only area-effect, cone, and explosion attacks can injure you, and only in proportion to the area they blanket; e.g., an attack that covers 5% of your area does 5% normal damage. You can focus your senses on any point within your area; changing viewpoints requires a Ready maneuver. Otherwise, treat this state as Insubstantiality. To resume your normal form, you must contract to your usual size (at your Move score) and then take a Concentrate maneuver. Swarm includes Infiltration. +80% if you can’t affect the material world; +160% if you can.

You have a natural or built-in attack with which you can inflict physical damage (for non-damaging attacks, see Affliction and Binding.) Examples include a dragon's fiery breath, a robot's built-in blaster, and a god's ability to hurl lightning bolts.

By default, this is a ranged attack with 1/2D 10, Max 100, Acc 3, RoF 1, Shots N/A, and Recoil 1, although you can apply modifiers to change these statistics.

An Innate Attack inflicts 1d damage per level. Its cost per level depends on the type of damage it inflicts:

Your attack inflicts damage using flame, an energy beam, or localized electrical burns. It may ignite fires!

Use this for electricity, flame, heat, and radiation. Examples include fireballs, lasers, lightning bolts, microwaves, and particle beams. Enhance the attack with Explosion (+50%/level) for a fireball, Radiation (+100%) for a particle beam, or Surge (+20%) for lightning. Exotic attacks might require combinations of damage modifiers: Radiation and Surge for charged particle beams, Explosion and Surge for ball lightning, Surge and No Wounding (-50%) for an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that only harms electrical systems, etc. 5 points/level.

Your attack involves acid, disintegration, or something similar. For every 5 points of basic damage you inflict, reduce the target's DR by 1, in addition to regular damage. (Living beings heal natural DR at the same rate as HP.)

Realistic examples are strong acids and bases. Powerful oxidizers also qualify, and tend to be Incendiary (+10%). Magical, superpowered, and superscience disintegration effects fall into this category, too. 10 points/level.

Your attack inflicts damage through blunt impact, like a bludgeoning weapon or an explosive blast. It is likely to cause knockback, and is more effective at inflicting blunt trauma than other types of damage.

This is most appropriate for attacks that hurl large, blunt chunks of matter, like balls of stone or ice (but not bullets – those are piercing). Superscience force beams qualify as well. Explosives are crushing attacks with both Explosion (+50%/level) and Fragmentation (+15%/die); timed explosives, such as grenades, add Delay (variable). 5 points/level.

Your attack inflicts lacerations, like those caused by an axe or broken glass. Multiply penetrating damage by 1.5. Cutting attacks can inflict blunt trauma and cause knockback.

Cutting attacks nearly always involve blades or shards, which might be made of bone, glass, ice, metal, or any number of other things. Tiny shards that damage mainly as a result of their sharpness have No Blunt Trauma (-20%) and No Knockback (-10%). Cutting attacks are often carriers for venomous FollowUp attacks. 7 points/level.

Your attack is nonlethal. It might involve a low-amperage electric shock or a “mind blast,” or even inflict a weakening effect such as hypothermia or starvation. It reduces FP, not HP, and as such, cannot affect machines.

Tranquilizers are the obvious real-world example, and have Cyclic, Onset, and Resistible (all highly variable). At higher TLs, sonic and electrical stunners become possibilities. Supernatural options include sleep spells and psionic mind blasts. Fatigue is the only damage type that can have Hazard enhancements. It can’t harm inanimate objects, but with Hazard, the GM may let it affect them – Freezing could cool off a cheeseburger, Suffocation might deprive an engine of air, and so on. 10 points/level.

Your attack inflicts stab wounds, like a spear or an arrow. Double penetrating damage in flesh! Impaling attacks can target the eyes and vital organs, can inflict blunt trauma, and may slip through high-tech flexible armor.

The notes for cutting damage apply here as well, but No Knockback isn’t allowed – impaling attacks don’t cause knockback in the first place. 8 points/level.

Your attack involves a fast, blunt projectile, such as a bullet, or is sharp but too small to qualify as impaling, like a dart or a stinger. It may inflict blunt trauma, and can target the eyes and vital organs. The most common example is a bullet or bullet-sized projectile. See below for detailed notes on projectiles; see Guns as Innate Attacks (box) to simulate firearms.

There are four subclasses of piercing attack:

Small Piercing (pi-): Use this for very low-energy projectiles (e.g., blowgun darts), or for attacks that tend to punch through the target and leave a small wound channel (e.g., armor-piercing bullets). Against flesh, halve damage that penetrates DR. 3 points/level.

Piercing (pi): Use this for most rifle and pistol bullets. 5 points/level.

Large Piercing (pi+): Use this for attacks similar to large-caliber solid bullets, or for smaller projectiles that create large wound channels (e.g., hollow-point bullets). Multiply penetrating damage in flesh by 1.5. 6 points/level.

Huge Piercing (pi++): Use this for attacks that leave an even larger wound channel than large piercing. Double penetrating damage in flesh! 8 points/level.

Guns as Innate Attacks

To simulate a firearm, start with dice of Piercing Attack equal to its
damage. Adjust Acc using Accurate (+5%/level) or Inaccurate
(-5%/level); Range using Increased Range (+10%/level) or Reduced
Range (-10%/level); RoF using Rapid Fire (variable); Shots using
Limited Use (variable), usually with Fast Reload; and Rcl using Extra
Recoil (-10%/level). If using Optional Rule: Malfunction (p. B279), add
Unreliable (variable) to give the attack a Malf. Realistic guns almost
never have the Variable enhancement. For worked examples, see Built-In Firearms, below.

Ammunition

Innate Attack can also simulate different ammunition: add Armor
Divisor (2) (+50%) and make the attack small piercing for armor-piercing ammo; add Armor Divisor (0.5) (-30%) and change the attack to
large piercing for hollow-point; add Armor Divisor (0.5) and Incendiary
(+10%) for tracer. Specialized ammunition might be non-piercing; e.g.,
flechettes are impaling.

Other Details

Considerations such as caliber and cartridge length are “special
effects” (see Special Effects, p. 113). They can matter in play – e.g., when
forced to reload from captured ammunition – but don’t alter point cost.
The same is true of Shots too generous to qualify for Limited Use: the
designer should still give a number. He might not run out in 10-second
firefight . . . but he could run out on a four-day mission. The GM may
require a Shots statistic close to that for a comparable weapon in the
game world. This isn’t a limitation; it’s no different from the GM ruling
that someone who tosses fireballs all day gets tired (see Abilities and
Exertion).

Your attack inflicts cellular damage, in the manner of disease, poison, or radiation. It cannot normally affect machines. The modifiers Cyclic, Onset, and Resistible are usual, but not required. 4 points/level.

You do not have to buy whole-numbered dice of damage. Each +/-1 to damage counts as +/-0.3 dice. Round the final cost up. For instance, an Innate Attack that does 1d+2 damage counts as 1.6 dice. If it were crushing (5 points/die), it would cost 1.6 x 5 = 8 points.

Some attacks do only 1 point of damage. This counts as 0.25 dice. Once again, round cost up. Such attacks can still be deadly - especially if they involve the Follow-Up or Cyclic enhancement!

Affliction is a far better starting point for a completely nonlethal attack . . . and the Coma and Heart Attack enhancements make Affliction a superior “all-or-nothing” lethal attack, too. To punch, kick, or strangle opponents at a distance, buy Telekinesis.

Any power that isn’t completely nonviolent might have an Innate Attack. Match both damage type and means of delivery to the power’s focus and source; see above for many examples. In all cases, Talent gives a bonus to hit.

Many special modifiers for Innate Attack appear under Attack Enhancements and Limitations. You can use these to create almost any attack - built-in guns, lasers, jets of liquid fire, gale-force winds, etc. - and to duplicate the capabilities of weapons listed in GURPS books.

Fatigue and toxic attacks intended to simulate poison or disease require modifiers. Noxious agents on Claws, Teeth, darts, etc. use Follow-Up. Gases and sprays use Respiratory Agent or Contact Agent, often with Area Effect, Cone, or Jet. Attacks that depend on touch or on skin contact use Blood Agent or Contact Agent, plus one of Aura or Melee Attack.

Regardless of other modifiers, Innate Attacks are treated as ranged attacks unless given the Melee Attack limitation; then they're considered melee weapons.

After applying all relevant modifiers, name and describe the attack. You can be as general as 'dragon fire' or as specific as '9mm machine pistol cybernetically implanted in right arm.' At the GM's discretion, the description can imply additional non-combat abilities; for instance, a jet of high-pressure water could put out fires. The GM has the final say as to whether your description fits the campaign setting, and may modify the attack if necessary.

If you have multiple Innate Attacks, you may define them as being the same basic attack, but with different settings, ammo types, etc. Determine the cost of these 'alternative attacks' as usual, but only pay full price for the most expensive attack. Buy additional attacks at 1/5 cost (round up).

This can save a lot of points, but there are drawbacks. First, since the attacks represent a single ability, you cannot use them simultaneously, even if you are capable of multiple attacks. This also prevents you from combining them with the Link enhancement. As well, any critical failure or malfunction that disables one of your attacks disables all of them. Finally, if your most expensive attack is somehow drained or neutralized, none of the cheaper attacks will work.

You may also apply this rule to multiple Afflictions or Bindings, or any combination of these with Innate Attacks that you cannot use simultaneously. With the GM's permission, you can apply this rule to multipurpose Strikers as well.

These rarely make sense as part of a power. They’re intended as standalone abilities for cyborgs and robots.

Antitank Rocket (+250%): Crushing Attack 6d¥6 (Armor Divisor (10), +200%; Explosion 1, +50%; Increased Range, ¥20, +40%; Limited Use, 1 use, Slow Reload, -35%; Nuisance Effect, Hazardous back-blast, -5%) [630]. 630 points.

Assault Rifle (+150%): Piercing Attack 5d (Accurate +2, +10%; Extra Recoil +1, -10%; Increased Range, ¥50, +50%; Limited Use, 3 uses/30 shots, Fast Reload, -10%; Rapid Fire, RoF 10, Selective Fire, +110%) [63]. 63 points.

Blaster Pistol (+265%): Burning Attack 3d (Accurate +2, +10%; Armor Divisor (5), +150%; Increased 1/2D, ¥20, +20%; Increased Max, ¥10, +15%; Rapid Fire, RoF 3, +50%; Surge, +20%) [55]. Special Effects: Tightbeam. 55 points.

Blaster Rifle (+310%): Burning Attack 6d (Accurate +9, +45%; Armor Divisor (5), +150%; Increased 1/2D, ¥50, +25%; Increased Max, ¥20, +20%; Rapid Fire, RoF 3, +50%; Surge, +20%) [123]. Special Effects: Tightbeam. 123 points.

Flamethrower (+105%): Burning Attack 3d (Armor Divisor (0.5), -30%; Cyclic, 10 seconds, 3 cycles, +100%; Increased Range 4, +40%; Jet, +0%; Limited Use, 10 uses, Slow Reload, -5%) [31]. 31 points.

Heavy Machine Gun (+165%): Large Piercing Attack 13d+1 (Accurate +3, +15%; Extra Recoil +1, -10%; Increased 1/2D, ¥200, +35%; Increased Max, ¥100, +30%; Limited Use, 10 uses/100 shots, Fast Reload, -5%; Rapid Fire, RoF 10, +100%) [212]. 212 points.

Laser Pistol (+210%): Burning Attack 3d (Accurate +3, +15%; Armor Divisor (2), +50%; Increased 1/2D, ×20, +20%; Increased Max, ×10, +15%; Rapid Fire, RoF 10, Selective Fire, +110%) [47]. Special Effects: Loses damage in smoke; can bounce off mirrors; tight-beam. 47 points.

Laser Rifle (+260%): Burning Attack 5d (Accurate +11, +55%; Armor Divisor (2), +50%; Increased 1/2D, ×50, +25%; Increased Max, ×20, +20%; Rapid Fire, RoF 10, Selective Fire, +110%) [90]. Special Effects: Loses damage in smoke; can bounce off mirrors; tight-beam. 90 points.

Light Machine Gun (+150%): Piercing Attack 5d+1 (Accurate +2, +10%; Extra Recoil +1, -10%; Increased 1/2D, ×100, +30%; Increased Max, ×50, +25%; Limited Use, 10 uses/120 shots, Fast Reload, -5%; Rapid Fire, RoF 12, +100%) [68]. 68 points.

Pistol (+70%): Piercing Attack 2d+2 (Extra Recoil +1, -10%; Inaccurate -1, -5%; Increased Range, ×20, +40%; Limited Use, 5 uses/15 shots, Fast Reload, -5%; Rapid Fire, RoF 3, +50%) [23]. 23 points.

Shotgun (+135%): Small Piercing Attack 1d+1 (Increased 1/2D, ×5, +10%; Limited Use, 2 uses/6 shots, Slow Reload, -25%; Rapid Fire, RoF 3×9, +150%) [10]. 10 points.

Sniper Rifle (+80%): Piercing Attack 9d+1 (Accurate +6, +30%; Increased 1/2D, ×100, +30%; Increased Max, ×50, +25%; Limited Use, 5 uses, Fast Reload, -5%) [85]. 85 points.

Sonic Stunner (+395%): Affliction 4 (HT-3; Armor Divisor (5), +150%; Environmental, Air, -5%; Rapid Fire, RoF 3, +50%; Unconsciousness, +200%) [198]. 198 points.

Submachine Gun (+135%): Piercing Attack 3d-1 (Accurate +1, +5%; Extra Recoil +1, -10%; Increased Range, ×20, +40%; Limited Use, 3 uses/33 shots, Fast Reload, -10%; Rapid Fire, RoF 11, Selective Fire, +110%) [33]. 33 points.

These could be superscience weapon implants, super-abilities, combat spells, or natural attacks for monsters. For comparison’s sake, all cost approximately 50 points. For a more or less powerful attack, vary the level of Affliction, Binding, Innate Attack, or Obscure. Descriptions and special effects appear under “Notes.”

Concussion (+50%): Crushing Attack 6d+2 (Explosion 1, +50%) [50]. Notes: Creates a ball of compressed air that ruptures explosively on impact. Might blow out small fires. 50 points.

Super-Breath (+50%): Crushing Attack 6d+2 (Cone, 5 yards, +100%; Double Knockback, +20%; No Wounding, -50%; Reduced Range, ×1/5, -20%) [50]. Notes: A gust of wind capable of pushing away groups of foes without doing serious harm. 50 points.

Twister (+225%/+95%): Crushing Attack 2d (Area Effect, 2 yards, +50%; Double Knockback, +20%; Environmental, Air, -5%; Link, +10%; Mobile 1, +40%; Persistent, +40%; Side Effect, -2 DX, +70%) [33] + Obscure 5 (Vision; Environmental, Air, -5%; Link, +10%; Mobile 1, +40%; Ranged, +50%) [20]. Notes: Spins existing air into a tiny tornado that hurls people around and stirs up debris. Knockback is vertical. The side effect represents dizziness. 53 points.

Vacuum (+100%): Fatigue Attack 2d+2 (Area Effect, 2 yards, +50%; Respiratory Agent, +50%; Suffocation, +0%) [52]. Notes: Reduces air pressure to zero over a small area, leaving those without breathing gear gasping for breath (unless they don’t breathe). 52 points.

Wind Blast (+10%): Crushing Attack 9d (Increased 1/2D, ×5, +10%) [50]. Notes: Hurls a bolt of compressed air that pummels the target like a clenched fist. 50 points.

Blizzard (+210%/+290%): Obscure 2 (Hearing; Area Effect, 16 yards, +150%; Link, +10%; Ranged, +50%) [13] + Obscure 5 (Vision; Area Effect, 16 yards, +150%; Extended, Active IR, Infravision, Ladar, Ultravision, +80%; Link, +10%; Ranged, +50%) [39]. Notes: A raging snowstorm that blocks light and infrared (-5), and absorbs sound (-2). Quickly melts and leaves puddles, except in subfreezing temperatures. 52 points.

Freeze Ray (+400%): Fatigue Attack 1d (Accurate +2, +10%; Armor Divisor (5), +150%; Freezing, +20%; Increased 1/2D, ×10, +15%; Increased Max, ×2, +5%; Side Effect, Paralysis, +200%) [50]. Notes: This thin, icy beam leaves the victim shivering. The side effect represents being frozen. Attempts to chill beer, etc. succeed automatically. 50 points.

Quicksand (+100%): Binding 12 (Area Effect, 2 yards, +50%; Environmental, Touching ground, -20%; One Shot, -10%; Persistent, +40%; Unbreakable, +40%) [48]. Notes: Turns a small patch of ground into quicksand. Anyone who enters it sinks up to his knees. After 10 seconds, the ground hardens and can no longer trap new victims. 48 points.

Rain of Stones (+100%): Crushing Attack 5d (Area Effect, 2 yards, +50%; Blockable, -5%; Bombardment, skill 10, -15%; Overhead, +30%; Persistent, +40%) [50]. Notes: Pounds the area of effect with boulders. These crumble to dust and blow away after 10 seconds. 50 points.

Sandstorm (+250%/+110%): Cutting Attack 1d (Area Effect, 4 yards, +100%; Link, +10%; Persistent, +40%; Side Effect, Blindness, +100%) [25] + Obscure 6 (Vision; Area Effect, 4 yards, +50%; Link, +10%; Ranged, +50%) [26]. Notes: Conjures a flesh-tearing blizzard of blinding grit. Machines are more likely to be clogged than blinded. 51 points.

Stone Missile (+10%): Crushing Attack 9d (Increased 1/2D, ×5, +10%) [50]. Notes: Shoots a fist-sized rock at the target. Decide whether it stays behind or crumbles to dust. 50 points.

Arc (+40%): Burning Attack 7d (Melee Attack, Reach C, Cannot Parry, -35%; Side Effect, Stunning, +50%; Surge, +20%; Variable, +5%) [49]. Notes: An electrical arc that leaps between the user’s hands. At its lowest setting, it can jump-start cars (and hearts!); at its highest setting, it can kill instantly. 49 points.

Call Lightning (+175%): Burning Attack 3d+2 (Area Effect, 2 yards, +50%; Bombardment, skill 12, -10%; Environmental, Air, -5%; Overhead, +30%; Persistent, +40%; Side Effect, Stunning, +50%; Surge, +20%) [50]. Notes: Calls down repeated lightning strikes on the target area. This creates electrical noise nearby. 50 points.

Dampen (+400%): Affliction 1 (HT; Accessibility, Only on Electrical, -20%; Area Effect, 2 yards, +50%; Malediction 2, +150%; Selective Area, +20%; Unconsciousness, +200%) [50]. Notes: Lets the user shut down electrical devices, in a small area he can see, by winning a Quick Contest of Will vs. the HT of each subject. 50 points.

Electric Stun (+65%): Affliction 3 (HT-2; Accurate +1, +5%; Armor Divisor (2), +50%; Increased 1/2D, ×5, +10%) [50]. Notes: Delivers a nerve-jangling electrical pulse similar to an electrolaser bolt – a useful nonlethal attack for heroic supers. 50 points.

Electrified Skin (+140%/+90%): Affliction 1 (HT; Aura, +80%; Link, +10%; Melee Attack, -30%; Secondary Heart Attack, +60%; Underwater, +20%) [24] + Burning Attack 2d+2 (Aura, +80%; Link, +10%; Melee Attack, -30%; No Incendiary Effect, -10%; Surge, +20%; Underwater, +20%) [25]. Notes: The user charges himself up like an electric eel. Foes who touch him receive a potentially lethal shock. 49 points.

Lightning Bolt (+100%): Burning Attack 5d (Accurate +2, +10%; Increased 1/2D, ×10, +15%; Increased Max, ×2, +5%; Side Effect, Stunning, +50%; Surge, +20%) [50]. Notes: Hurls a destructive bolt of electricity that sets fires and fries machinery. 50 points.

Surge (+0%): Burning Attack 10d (Accurate +2, +10%; Increased 1/2D, ×10, +15%; Increased Max, ×2, +5%; No Wounding, -50%; Surge, +20%) [50]. Notes: A low-energy, high-frequency electrical bolt that scrambles machinery without harming living targets. 50 points.

Fire Bolt (+10%): Burning Attack 9d (Increased 1/2D, ×5, +10%) [50]. Notes: A simple bolt of flame that sets fires and cooks flesh. 50 points. Fireball (+50%): Burning Attack 6d+2 (Explosion 1, +50%) [50]. Notes: Similar to Fire Bolt, but the bolt explodes on impact, damaging everything nearby. 50 points.

Flame Breath (+80%): Burning Attack 5d+1 (Cone, 5 yards, +100%; Reduced Range, ×1/5, -20%) [49]. Notes: Classic “dragon-fire” attack that blasts foes in a broad cone. 49 points.

Flame Jet (+0%): Burning Attack 10d (Jet, +0%) [50]. Notes: Lets the user project a flamethrower-like torch from his hand. 50 points.

Immolation (+50%): Burning Attack 6d+2 (Aura, +80%; Melee Attack, -30%) [50]. Notes: User sheathes himself in flames that incinerate enemies who touch his body. 50 points.

Inferno (+95%): Burning Attack 5d (Area Effect, 2 yards, +50%; Persistent, +40%; Variable, +5%) [49]. Notes: The affected area erupts in a roaring pillar of flame. At its lowest levels, this is useful as a bonfire or barbeque. 49 points.

Plasma Torch (+125%): Burning Attack 4d+1 (Armor Divisor (5), +150%; Melee Attack, Reach C, 1, Cannot Parry, -25%) [50]. Notes: A hot, short-ranged torch, useful for cutting through armor. 50 points.

Smoke (+190%/+100%): Affliction 1 (HT; Area Effect, 2 yards, +50%; Coughing, +20%; Drifting, +20%; Link, +10%; Persistent, +40%; Respiratory Agent, +50%) [29] + Obscure 5 (Vision; Drifting, +20%; Extended, Ladar, +20%; Link, +10%; Ranged, +50%) [20]. Notes: Raises a cloud of smoke big enough to disappear behind. Enemies who try to follow are left coughing. 49 points.

Ball of Force (+70%): Crushing Attack 6d-1 (Double Knockback, +20%; Explosion 1, +50%) [50]. Notes: This globe of force explodes on impact, pushing aside anything nearby. 50 points.

Force Beam (+50%): Crushing Attack 6d+2 (Accurate +2, +10%; Double Knockback, +20%; Increased 1/2D, ×10, +15%; Increased Max, ×2, +5%) [50]. Notes: A pencil-thin beam of force that breaks bones and sends the victim flying. 50 points.

Force Bonds (+90%): Binding 13 (Engulfing, +60%; One-Shot, -10%; Unbreakable, +40%) [50]. Notes: Conjures glowing bands of force that pin the victim’s arms to his sides. 50 points.

Shove (-5%): Crushing Attack 10d+1 (Double Knockback, +20%; Increased 1/2D, ×10, +15%; Low Signature, +10%; No Wounding, -50%) [50]. Notes: A broadly focused attack that forcefully pushes away the target. The bolt is invisible, except perhaps as a vague blur. 50 points.

Darkness (+150%): Obscure 10 (Vision; Area Effect, 8 yards, +100%; Ranged, +50%) [50]. Note: Plunges the area into total darkness. Those without enhanced senses are blind while they remain in the area. 50 points.

Flash (+400%): Affliction 1 (HT; Area Effect, 16 yards, +200%; Disadvantage, Blindness, +50%; Vision-Based, +150%) [50]. Notes: Lobs a “flash bomb” that goes off at a distance, potentially blinding those who see the blast. 50 points.

Images (+100%): Illusion (Area Effect, 4 yards, +50%; Independence, +40%; Ranged, +40%; Visual Only, -30%) [50]. Notes: Generates believable, fire-and-forget illusions at a distance. Handy as a distraction! 50 points.

Laser (+100%): Burning Attack 5d (Accurate +3, +15%; Armor Divisor (2), +50%; Increased 1/2D, ×20, +20%; Increased Max, ×10, +15%) [50]. Notes: An accurate, long-ranged laser, suitable for sniping. Attack is tightbeam. 50 points.

Irradiate (+150%): Toxic Attack 5d (Area Effect, 4 yards, +100%; No Signature, +20%; Radiation, +25%; Variable, +5%) [50]. Notes: Bathes the area in harmful – and invisible – radiation. Variable intensity makes it useful for mad scientists. 50 points.

Particle Beam (+300%): Burning Attack 2d+2 (Accurate +2, +10%; Armor Divisor (5), +150%; Increased 1/2D, ×10, +15%; Increased Max, ×2, +5%; Radiation, +100%; Surge, +20%) [52]. Notes: A tight-beam energy attack that sets fires, irradiates the living, and overloads machines. 52 points.

Radiation Beam (+80%): Toxic Attack 7d-1 (Accurate +2, +10%; Increased 1/2D, ×10, +15%; Increased Max, ¥2, +5%; No Signature, +20%; Radiation, +25%; Variable, +5%) [49]. Notes: The classic science-fiction death ray, invisible and deadly. It can also save lives, by sterilizing food and (at low levels) destroying tumors. 49 points.

Sonic Scream (+75%): Burning Attack 6d-1 (Environmental, Air/Water, -5%; No Incendiary Effect, -10%; Side Effect, Deafness, +70%; Underwater, +20%) [51]. Notes: A beam of “coherent sound” that cooks the living without the risk of fire. Being very broad-beam (not tight-beam), it inflicts full-body damage and can’t target hit locations. 51 points.

Sonic Stun (+365%): Affliction 1 (HT; Armor Divisor (5), +150%; Environmental, Air/Water, -5%; Unconsciousness, +200%; Underwater, +20%) [47]. Notes: Similar to a superscience stunner, this incapacitating attack is useful for heroes who dislike killing. 47 points.

Sound Effects (+110%): Illusion (Area Effect, 8 yards, +100%; Auditory Only, -70%; Independence, +40%; Ranged, +40%) [53]. Notes: Projects autonomous sound effects that can distract enemies. The user can specify whatever he likes. If he’s a musician, he can even have his own personal soundtrack! 53 points.

Thunderclap (+395%): Affliction 1 (HT; Area Effect, 16 yards, +200%; Disadvantage, Deafness, +20%; Environmental, Air/Water, -5%; Hearing-Based, +150%; Stunning, +10%; Underwater, +20%) [50]. Notes: Causes a loud pop or crash that stuns and deafens those in the area. Might shatter extremely brittle objects. 50 points.

White Noise (+250%): Obscure 7 (Hearing; Area Effect, 8 yards, +100%; Extended, Subsonic Hearing, Ultrasonic Hearing, Sonar, Vibration Sense, +80%; Ranged, +50%; Underwater, +20%) [49]. Notes: Fills the area of effect with broad-spectrum acoustic distortion. Insomniacs might welcome the soothing hiss… 49 points.

Dehydrate (+190%): Fatigue Attack 2d-1 (Based on HT, +20%; Dehydration, +20%; Malediction 2, +150%) [50]. Notes: Lets the attacker drive moisture from the victim’s body by winning a Quick Contest of Will vs. HT. Also dries out wet equipment. 50 points.

Fog (+240%): Obscure 7 (Vision; Area Effect, 16 yards, +150%; Drifting, +20%; Extended, Ladar, +20%; Ranged, +50%) [48]. Notes: Summons a fogbank that interferes with vision and ladar. Weakens fire attacks like the Fog spell (p. B253) – but any wind more forceful than a light breeze disperses it. 48 points.

Water Blade (+30%): Corrosion Attack 4d-1 (Armor Divisor (2), +50%; Melee Attack, Reach C, 1, -20%) [49]. Notes: Projects an abrasive stream of high-pressure water capable of dissolving most materials. 49 points.

Water Blast (+30%): Crushing Attack 7d+2 (Increased 1/2D, ×5, +10%; Underwater, +20%) [50]. Notes: A water jet focused tightly enough to be lethal at long range. 50 points.

Water Cannon (-10%): Crushing Attack 11d (Double Knockback, +20%; No Wounding, -50%; Underwater, +20%) [50]. Notes: More broadly focused, this water jet is useful for crowd control, putting out fires, etc. 50 points.

These could be chi, divine, magical, psi, or spirit abilities – add power modifiers as necessary. Touches are baneful melee attacks, some of which bypass DR. Curses are prayers, spells, and similar rituals that require a nearby subject. Mental attacks are longer-ranged effects. Curses and mental attacks call for a Concentrate maneuver, not an Attack. See the accompanying notes for the resistance roll (if any) and special effects.

As with elemental attacks, all of these abilities cost about 50 points. Expensive abilities have enough Costs Fatigue and Takes Extra Time to reduce cost to this level. Adept users can buy off these limitations, while less-capable ones can add higher levels to save points.

Burning Touch (+250%): Burning Attack 3d-1 (Accessibility, Only on living beings, -10%; Cosmic, Irresistible attack, +300%; Melee Attack, Reach C, Cannot Parry, -35%; No Incendiary Effect, -10%; Variable, +5%) [49]. Notes: Causes flesh to cook and blister without heat or fire. This attack passes through and has no effect on inanimate objects – including armor. 49 points.

Chilling Touch (+290%): Fatigue Attack 1d+1 (Cosmic, Irresistible attack, +300%; Freezing, +20%; Melee Attack, Reach C, Cannot Parry, -35%; Variable, +5%) [51]. Notes: Inflicts the effects of extreme cold on a living target, regardless of clothing or armor. 51 points.

Hand of Death (+400%): Affliction 1 (HT; Contact Agent, -30%; Cosmic, Lingering special effect, +100%; Delay, Triggered, +50%; Heart Attack, +300%; Low Signature, +10%; Melee Attack, Reach C, -30%) [50]. Notes: This attack from a kung fu legend looks like a punch (only a martial-arts master could tell otherwise) and must touch bare skin. The victim gets a HT roll to resist. If he fails, the attacker can inflict a heart attack at some unspecified point in the future, from any distance. To escape this fate, the victim must slay his tormentor or convince him to cancel the Hand – there’s no cure! 50 points.

Leprous Touch (+155%): Affliction 2 (HT-1; Contact Agent, -30%; Disadvantage, Terminally Ill, Up to two years, +50%; Extended Duration, Permanent, +150%; Melee Attack, Reach C, Cannot Parry, -35%; No Signature, +20%) [51]. Notes: A subtle “death touch” with no visible effects. The attacker must touch his victim’s bare skin. The victim gets a HT-1 roll to resist. If he fails, he contracts a wasting disease that will kill him slowly over about two years. Mundane and supernatural medicine work as usual. 51 points.

Paralyzing Touch (+155%): Affliction 2 (HT-1; Extended Duration, 3×, +20%; Melee Attack, Reach C, Cannot Parry, -35%; Paralysis, +150%; Selective Effect, +20%) [51]. Notes: The victim must roll against HT-1 if touched; DR gives its usual bonus. Failure means he suffers paralysis for three minutes times his margin of failure. Selective Effect lets the attacker touch specific hit locations in order to paralyze them. 51 points.

Steal Energy (-15%): Leech 2d+2 (Accelerated Healing, +25%; Only Heals FP, -20%; Steal FP, -25%; Variable, +5%) [49]. Notes: The attacker quickly steals the target’s FP for himself, on a 1:1 basis. Subject to all the usual restrictions on Leech. 49 points.

Steal Life (+30%): Leech 1d (Accelerated Healing, +25%; Variable, +5%) [49]. Notes: Identical to Steal Energy, above, but transfers HP. 49 points.

Curse (+365%): Affliction 1 (Will; Based on Will, +20%; Disadvantage, Cursed, +75%; Extended Duration, Permanent, +150%; Malediction 1, +100%; No Signature, +20%) [47]. Notes: Curses the victim until he achieves a notable success… at which time his victory and the curse evaporate. Spells that remove curses work normally. Roll Will vs. subject’s Will. 47 points.

Death Wish (+400%): Affliction 1 (HT; Costs Fatigue, 4 FP, -20%; Heart Attack, +300%; Malediction 1, +100%; No Signature, +20%) [50]. Notes: If the subject fails to resist, his heart stops – which is usually fatal. Costs 4 FP. Roll Will vs. subject’s HT. 50 points.

Diminution (+400%): Affliction 1 (HT; Advantage, Shrinking 6, +300%; Costs Fatigue, 4 FP, -20%; Malediction 1, +100%; No Signature, +20%) [50]. Notes: Shrinks the subject to 1/10 normal size over a period of six seconds. Costs 4 FP. Roll Will vs. subject’s HT. 50 points.

Fear (+0%): Terror (-2 to Fright Checks; Active, +0%) [50]. Notes: Terrifies a single subject within 10 yards who can see or hear the user. Roll Will vs. subject’s Will-2. 50 points.

Feeblemindedness (+400%): Affliction 1 (IQ; Attribute Penalty, -20 IQ, +200%; Based on IQ, +20%; Disadvantages, Cannot Speak, Gullibility (6), Hidebound, Short Attention Span (6), +60%; Malediction 1, +100%; No Signature, +20%) [50]. Notes: The subject becomes a drooling idiot who can’t speak, discern the truth, or focus on tasks. IQ can’t fall below 1 (a special effect). Roll Will vs. subject’s IQ. 50 points.

Frog (+400%): Affliction 1 (HT; Advantage, Alternate Form, Frog, +150%; Costs Fatigue, 4 FP, -20%; Extended Duration, Permanent, +150%; Malediction 1, +100%; No Signature, +20%) [50]. Notes: Transforms the victim into a frog. Cancelled by a kiss from a member of the opposite sex, or any spell that removes curses. Costs 4 FP. Roll Will vs. subject’s HT. 50 points.

Madness (+150%): Affliction 2 (IQ-1; Based on IQ, +20%; Costs Fatigue, 4 FP, -20%; Disadvantages, Delusion (Severe), Paranoia, Phantom Voices (Diabolical), +40%; Malediction 1, +100%; No Signature, +20%; Takes Extra Time 1, -10%) [50]. Notes: The subject believes that friends are foes . . . and hears evil voices that tell him to kill. Takes two seconds and costs 4 FP. Roll Will vs. subject’s IQ-1. 50 points.

Pain (+150%): Affliction 2 (HT-1; Costs Fatigue, 2 FP, -10%; Malediction 1, +100%; No Signature, +20%; Severe Pain, +40%) [50]. Notes: Subject is in such pain that he has -4 on most rolls. Costs 2 FP. Roll Will vs. subject’s HT-1. 50 points.

Pestilence (+1,560%): Fatigue Attack 1 point (Based on HT, +20%; Costs Fatigue, 6 FP, -30%; Cyclic, 1 hour, 72 cycles, Highly Contagious, +1,470%; Malediction 1, +100%; No Signature, +20%; Onset, 1 hour, -20%) [50]. Notes: An insidious “death spell.” After an hour, the subject becomes ill. He loses 1 FP/hour for three days, and is infectious during this time. Remember that at 0 FP, each FP lost saps 1 HP. Costs 6 FP. Roll Will vs. subject’s HT. 50 points.

Sickness (+150%): Affliction 2 (HT-1; Malediction 1, +100%; Nauseated, +30%; No Signature, +20%) [50]. Notes: A quick, easy curse that leaves the subject feeling ill. Roll Will vs. subject’s HT-1. 50 points.

Silence (+395%): Affliction 1 (HT; Advantage, Silence 5, +250%; Disadvantage, Mute, +25%; Malediction 1, +100%; No Signature, +20%) [50]. Notes: Completely silences the subject. He can’t speak at all. Treat the involuntary Silence advantage as -10 to hear the subject, reduced to -5 if he tries to make noise. Roll Will vs. subject’s HT. 50 points.

Sleep (+400%): Affliction 1 (HT; Extended Duration, 100×, +80%; Malediction 1, +100%; No Signature, +20%; Unconsciousness, +200%) [50]. Notes: The subject falls into a deep sleep, and can’t be awakened for 100 minutes times the attacker’s margin of victory (e.g., five hours, if the attacker wins by 3). Roll Will vs. subject’s HT. 50 points.

Slow (+400%): Affliction 1 (HT; Advantage, Subsonic Speech, +100%; Costs Fatigue, 4 FP, -20%; Disadvantage, Decreased Time Rate, +100%; Malediction 1, +100%; Negated Advantage, Altered Time Rate 1, +100%; No Signature, +20%) [50]. Notes: Slows the subject by 50% and robs him of a level of Altered Time Rate (enough to negate the Great Haste spell). Also shifts his speech into the subsonic range – he can’t speak normally. Costs 4 FP. Roll Will vs. subject’s HT. 50 points.

Strike Blind (+150%): Affliction 2 (HT-1; Disadvantage, Blindness, +50%; Costs Fatigue, 4 FP, -20%; Malediction 1, +100%; No Signature, +20%) [50]. Notes: Instantly renders the subject blind. Costs 4 FP. Roll Will vs. subject’s HT-1. 50 points.

Cryokinetic Attack (+210%): Fatigue Attack 1d+2 (Based on HT, +20%; Freezing, +20%; Malediction 2, +150%; No Signature, +20%) [50]. Notes: Causes the subject’s body temperature to plunge, chilling him (see Cold, p. B430). Roll Will vs. subject’s HT. 50 points.

Mental Blow (+160%/+150%): Fatigue Attack 1d (Costs Fatigue, 2 FP, -10%; Malediction 2, +150%; No Signature, +20%) [26] + Affliction 1 (HT; Follow-Up, Fatigue Attack, +150%) [25]. Notes: A mental blast that wears down the target. Costs 2 FP. Roll Will vs. subject’s Will to deliver the attack. If this works, the subject must roll vs. HT to avoid being stunned. 51 points.

Mental Paralysis (+400%): Affliction 1 (Will; Based on Will, +20%; Malediction 2, +150%; Mobile 1, +40%; No Signature, +20%; Paralysis, +150%; Selective Effect, +20%) [50]. Notes: Paralyzes the victim. Mobile and Selective Effect represent the capacity to limit paralysis to particular body parts and move the paralysis to other body parts by concentrating after a successful attack. Roll Will vs. subject’s Will. 50 points.

Mental Stab (+165%/+250%): Toxic Attack 1d+1 (Based on HT, +20%; Costs Fatigue, 5 FP, -25%; Malediction 2, +150%; No Signature, +20%) [16] + Affliction 1 (HT; Follow-Up, Toxic Attack, +150%; Seizure, +100%) [35]. Notes: A psychic blast that burns out the target’s nervous system. Costs 5 FP. Roll Will vs. subject’s HT to deliver the attack. If this works, the subject must roll vs. HT to avoid suffering a seizure. 51 points.

Mindwipe (+385%): Affliction 1 (Will; Based on Will, +20%; Disadvantage, Total Amnesia, +25%; Extended Duration, Permanent, +150%; Malediction 2, +150%; No Signature, +20%; Selective Effect, +20%) [49]. Notes: Obliterates memories. Selective Effect lets the attacker delete specific memories, if desired. To undo this effect, use hypnotism, shock therapy, or Mind Control with Conditioning. Roll Will vs. subject’s Will. 49 points.

Psychic Vampirism (+100%): Leech 1 (Accelerated Healing, +25%; Malediction 2, +150%; Only Heals FP, -20%; Ranged, +40%; Steal FP, -25%; Takes Extra Time 6, -60%; Temporary Disadvantages, -10%) [50]. Notes: Siphons “psychic energy” from a distant target to the attacker at the rate of 1 FP per minute of concentration. This carries some of the victim’s personality. The GM picks -10 points of the subject’s mental quirks and disadvantages, and the vampire suffers from these as he feeds. Roll Will vs. subject’s Will. 50 points.

Pyrokinetic Attack (+190%/+250%): Burning Attack 1d (Based on HT, +20%; Malediction 2, +150%; No Signature, +20%) [15] + Affliction 1 (HT; Agony, +100%; Follow-Up, Burning Attack, +150%) [35]. Notes: The subject’s body temperature rises to the point where he begins to burn. Roll Will vs. subject’s HT to deliver the attack. If this works, the subject must roll vs. HT to avoid collapsing due to the searing pain. 50 points.

Telekinetic Squeeze (+185%/+250%): Crushing Attack 1d (Based on HT, +20%; Malediction 2, +150%; No Knockback, -10%; No Signature, +20%; Variable, +5%) [15] + Affliction 1 (HT; Choking, +100%; Follow-Up, Crushing Attack, +150%) [35]. Notes: A direct attempt to crush the victim’s throat or vital organs. Roll Will vs. subject’s HT to deliver the attack. If this works, the subject must roll vs. HT to avoid choking. 50 points.

Natural, manmade, and fictional toxins range from annoying to instantly fatal. They defy normalization to a particular number of points. Thus, they cost what they cost.

Poison carried by a bite requires Sharp Teeth or Fangs. Venom on a stinger calls for Striker (Piercing), (Large Piercing), or (Impaling). Add the cost of this delivery system to that of the venom. These venoms are “generic” examples, intended to illustrate the principles behind venom design. Real-world venoms can have damage ranging from 1d-3 to 4d, and almost any combination of Cyclic, Onset, Resistible, and Symptoms.

Average Venom (+40%): Toxic Attack 2d-1 (Cyclic, 1 day, 4 cycles, Resistible, +15%; Follow-Up, Teeth/Striker, +0%; Onset, 1 hour, -20%; Resistible, HT-3, -15%; Symptoms, 2/3 HP, -3 DX and IQ, +60%) [10]. Notes: The victim must make a HT-3 roll an hour after injection and daily for three days. Each failure inflicts 2d-1 injury. Those who lose 2/3 HP or more suffer shakes and fever: -3 DX and IQ until healed. This venom could kill an unlucky human. Use it for the nastiest spiders and scorpions, or the average venomous snake. 10 points.

Fantasy Venom (-5%): Toxic Attack 6d (Follow-Up, Teeth/Striker, +0%; Resistible, HT-5, -5%) [23]. Notes: The victim must make an immediate HT-5 roll or suffer 6d injury. Acute venoms this fast and symptom-free are unrealistic, yet entirely suitable for fantastic monsters that can instantly incapacitate or kill a hero with a bite. 23 points.

Paralytic Venom (+290%): Affliction 1 (HT; Extended Duration, 300×, +100%; Follow-Up, Teeth or Striker, +0%; Onset, 1 minute, -10%; Paralysis, +150%; Secondary Coma, +50%) [39]. Notes: The victim must make a HT roll a minute after being injected. Failure means he’s paralyzed for five hours times his margin of failure; failure by 5+ means he falls into a coma. 39 points.

Strong Venom (+100%): Toxic Attack 3d-1 (Cyclic, 1 hour, 4 cycles, Resistible, +30%; Follow-Up, Teeth/Striker, +0%; Onset, 1 minute, -10%; Resistible, HT-4, -10%; Symptoms, 2/3 HP, -3 ST, DX, IQ, and HT, +90%) [22]. Notes: The victim must make a HT-4 roll a minute after injection and hourly for three hours. Each failure inflicts 3d-1 injury. Those who lose 2/3 HP or more become seriously ill: -3 to all attributes until healed. This venom will kill those who don’t receive medical or supernatural aid. It’s only appropriate for the deadliest real-world serpents… and monsters of fantasy and horror. 22 points.

Weak Venom (-30%): Toxic Attack 1d (Follow-Up, Teeth/Striker, +0%; Onset, 1 hour, -20%; Resistible, HT-2, -20%; Symptoms, 2/3 HP, -1 DX, +10%) [3]. Notes: The victim must make a HT-2 roll an hour after injection or suffer 1d injury. Swelling occurs near the injection site. If damage exceeds 2/3 HP – which is rare, unless the victim receives many doses or has few HP – this gives -1 DX until the injury heals. This is typical of all but the worst scorpion stings and spider bites. 3 points.

These chemical weapons are meant mainly to discourage others from damaging (or eating) the possessor, but have their uses as attacks.

Acidic Blood (+890%): Corrosion Attack 1d-3 (Always On, -20%; Aura, +80%; Blood Agent, Reversed, -40%; Cyclic, 1 second, 10 cycles, +900%; Melee Attack, -30%) [10]. Notes: Someone with this ability seeps acid if he suffers any cutting, impaling, or piercing injury. He bleeds on the weapon that wounded him – or his foe, if attacked with Claws, Teeth, etc. – which immediately begins to corrode. Until he stops bleeding (see Bleeding), the acid drips on everything nearby. This works like any other Aura, and the user can deliberately attack others by flicking his blood around. 10 points.

Deadly Skin/Tentacles (+80%): Toxic Attack 3d-1 (Always On, -20%; Aura, +80%; Contact Agent, -30%; Cyclic, 1 hour, 4 cycles, Resistible, +30%; Melee Attack, -30%; Resistible, HT-4, -10%; Symptoms, 2/3 HP, Terrible Pain, +60%) [20]. Notes: A coating of lethal contact poison that affects anyone whose bare skin touches or is touched by the possessor. The victim must make a HT-4 roll immediately and again hourly for three hours. Each failure inflicts 3d-1 injury. Those who lose 2/3 HP or more suffer searing pain until healed. This venom suits the deadliest jellyfish. 20 points.

Deadly Spines (+50%): Toxic Attack 3d-1 (Cyclic, 1 hour, 4 cycles, Resistible, +30%; Follow-Up, Spines, -50%; Onset, 1 minute, -10%; Resistible, HT-4, -10%; Symptoms, 2/3 HP, -3 ST, DX, IQ, and HT, +90%) [17]. Notes: Must accompany either Short Spines [1] or Long Spines [3]. Anyone injured by the spines must make a HT-4 roll after a minute and hourly for three hours. Each failure inflicts 3d-1 injury. Those who lose 2/3 HP or more have -3 to all attributes until healed. This attack is typical of puffer fish. 17 points.

Irritating Spines (-20%): Affliction 1 (HT; Attribute Penalty, -3 DX, +30%; Follow-Up, Spines, -50%) [8]. Notes: Only available with Short Spines [1] or Long Spines [3]. Anyone injured by the spines must make a HT roll or immediately suffer a terrible itching and burning sensation that gives -3 DX. This is typical of most spiny fish and sea urchins. 8 points.

Stinging Skin/Tentacles (+180%): Toxic Attack 1d-1 (Always On, -20%; Aura, +80%; Contact Agent, -30%; Melee Attack, -30%; Symptoms, 1/3 HP, Terrible Pain, +180%) [9]. Notes: The possessor has stinging cells on his skin, or on non-prehensile tentacles dangling from his body. Anyone he touches on bare skin or who touches him with bare skin is stung for 1d-1 damage. If damage exceeds a mere 1/3 HP, the victim experiences burning pain until healed. Use this for ordinary stinging sea creatures. 9 points.

These attacks represent “gas grenades” or equivalent abilities, with Acc 3, Range 100, RoF 1, and Rcl 1. They burst on impact, filling a two-yard radius with gas that drifts for 10 seconds. All of these gases are Resistible, and the victim must keep making the initial resistance roll until he fails or leaves the area. For most gases, roll every second; for those with Onset, roll on first exposure and again after each full onset period.

Blistering Gas (+295%/+175%): Toxic Attack 1d (Area Effect, 2 yards, +50%; Contact Agent, +150%; Cyclic, 1 day, 8 cycles, Resistible, +35%; Drifting, +20%; Link, +10%; Persistent, +40%; Resistible, HT-4, -10%) [16] + Toxic Attack 1d (Area Effect, 2 yards, +50%; Cyclic, 1 hour, 6 cycles, Resistible, +50%; Drifting, +20%; Link, +10%; Onset, 1 hour, -20%; Persistent, +40%; Resistible, HT-1, -25%; Respiratory Agent, +50%) [11]. Notes: Mustard gas, or something similar. Anyone who comes into contact with it must make a HT-4 roll immediately and again daily for a week or suffer 1d injury. Those who breathe it must make a HT-1 roll every hour for six hours or suffer 1d injury. These effects are cumulative. 27 points.

Nerve Gas (+655%): Toxic Attack 2d (Area Effect, 2 yards, +50%; Contact Agent, +150%; Cyclic, 1 minute, 6 cycles, Resistible, +100%; Drifting, +20%; Persistent, +40%; Resistible, HT-5, -5%; Symptoms, 1/2 HP, Paralysis, +300%) [61]. Notes: This military weapon is rapidly incapacitating and almost inevitably lethal. Anyone who comes into contact with it must make a HT-5 roll immediately and every minute for five minutes; each failure inflicts 2d injury. Once injury passes 1/2 HP, the victim is paralyzed until healed. 61 points.

Sleeping Gas (+230%): Fatigue Attack 1d (Area Effect, 2 yards, +50%; Cyclic, 1 minute, 3 cycles, Resistible, +40%; Drifting, +20%; Missed Sleep, +50%; Persistent, +40%; Resistible, HT-2, -20%; Respiratory Agent, +50%) [33]. Notes: A relatively safe incapacitating agent. Those who breathe it must make a HT-2 roll immediately and twice more at one-minute intervals. Each failure costs 1d FP. This counts as missed sleep, and those who fall to 0 FP sleep until they recover the FP. 33 points.

Blinding Spray (+190%): Affliction 1 (HT; Blindness, +50%; Jet, +0%; Reduced Range, ×1/2, -10%; Vision-Based, +150%) [29]. Notes: A narrow jet of blinding poison. Targets without eye protection must make a HT roll or suffer temporary blindness. 29 points.

Poison Spit (+15%): Toxic Attack 2d-1 (Blood Agent, -40%; Cyclic, 1 hour, 4 cycles, Resistible, +30%; Jet, +0%; Onset, 1 minute, -10%; Reduced Range, ×1/2, -10%; Resistible, HT-3, -15%; Symptoms, 2/3 HP, -3 DX and IQ, +60%) [9]. Notes: This jet of venom must hit the eyes or open mouth, or an open wound, to have any effect. Victims must make a HT-3 roll a minute after exposure and hourly for three hours. Each failure means 2d-1 injury. Those who lose 2/3 HP or more grow feverish: -3 DX and IQ until healed. 9 points.

Tranquilizer Dart (-35%/+210%): Small Piercing Attack 1d (Accurate +1, +5%; Armor Divisor (0.2), -50%; Increased 1/2D, ×5, +10%) [2] + Affliction 1 (HT; Follow-Up, Small Piercing Attack, +10%; Unconsciousness, +200%) [31]. Notes: Fires a tiny dart that’s unlikely to pierce armor or inflict serious injury . . . but if it inflicts any injury, the victim must make a HT roll or fall unconscious. 33 points.

The GM might permit certain attack modifiers on unarmed thrusting damage. Options include Affects Insubstantial (for heroes who combat spirits), All-Out (for strong, awkward fighters), Armor Divisor (to simulate martial-arts training similar to Breaking Blow), Double Knockback (for cinematic heroes who punch enemies through walls), Incendiary (for flaming creatures), No Blunt Trauma (for martial artists whose strength is “chi projection,” not brute force), No Knockback (ditto!), No Wounding (for semisolid spirits), and Takes Extra Time (for big, slow fighters).

The GM may allow other modifiers, but many are strictly forbidden:

• Area Effect, Cone, Explosion, Jet, and anything with such a modifier as a prerequisite: Bombardment, Dissipation, Drifting, Emanation,

Erosive, Mobile, Persistent, Selective Area, and Wall.

• Cyclic, Onset, Resistible, and other modifiers intended for toxins.
• Melee Attack, Variable, and Visible, which are already built into

unarmed damage.

• Modifiers intended only for ranged attacks: Accurate, Blockable,

Extra Recoil, Guided, Homing, Inaccurate, Increased Range, LongRange, Ranged, Rapid Fire, Reduced Range, Ricochet, and ShortRange.

• Modifiers that don’t apply to crushing attacks: Double Blunt

Trauma, Hazard, Radiation, etc.

• Penetration modifiers other than Armor Divisor: Blood Agent,

Contact Agent, Follow-Up, Malediction, Respiratory Agent, and Sense-Based.

To apply modifiers to ST-based damage, follow these steps:

• 1. Find thrusting damage for the highest ST you can use for unarmed

combat. This is the sum of regular ST, Arm ST, and Striking ST.

• 2. Calculate the “effective point cost” of the basic thrust damage

from step 1 as if it were a Crushing Attack. Don’t pay this cost! You just need it for step 4.

• 3. Total the desired modifiers. Treat a net limitation larger than -80%

as -80%.

• 4. Multiply the cost from step 2 by the net modifier from step 3 to

find the cost of the modifiers. Round up. Record a positive cost as an advantage, a negative one as a disadvantage. Example: Kong has ST 15, Arm ST +10, and Striking ST +10. He can strike with ST 35, which gives him 4d-1 thrusting damage. Crushing Attack 4d-1 would cost 19 points, so Armor Divisor (10), +200%, would be a 38-point advantage for Kong, while All-Out, -25%, would be -4- point disadvantage. Enhancements benefit kicks, punches, and other unarmed melee attacks, but not muscle-powered weapons. Limitations affect all STbased attacks. If you have Claws, Strikers, or Teeth and modifiers on STbased damage, you must buy your body weaponry with exactly the same modifiers.

You can become insubstantial, passing through solid objects as though they weren't there. In this state, gravity does not affect you - you can move in any direction at full Move (and make no noise when you move). You can perceive the tangible world, and speak normally to those within it, but you cannot pick up normal objects or affect them in any way.

Physical and energy attacks cannot harm you, but you're still vulnerable to psionic and (nonmaterial) magical attacks. Likewise, your physical and energy attacks cannot affect physical opponents. Your psi abilities and magic spells can affect the physical world, but at -3 to all skill rolls.

Although you can pass through solids, you must still breathe. When moving through a solid object, treat this as if you were swimming underwater for purposes of suffocation. You cannot materialize inside a solid object.

Your 'natural' form (physical or insubstantial) is considered a special effect. You must take this advantage if you can change between a physical and an insubstantial form.

This trait can represent any number of abilities from folklore and fiction. You should work out its origins and special effects with the GM - perhaps you 'vibrate' out of synch with reality, phase into a different dimension, or become a spirit. This determines your appearance, which may be transparent, misty… or completely normal (but you can't be invisible without the Invisibility advantage.) Your physical and energy attacks affect other beings using the same form of Insubstantiality, and their attacks affect you. The GM may rule that certain materials, energy barriers, magic spells, etc. are impenetrable to your particular form of Insubstantiality.

The GM may allow the ability to become insubstantial for just an instant when exposed to damage. Physical and energy attacks pass through harmlessly. Attacks with Affects Insubstantial or Malediction – and spells, Mind Control, and similar abilities – work normally. This is Insubstantiality (Affect Substantial, +100%; Can Carry Objects, Heavy, +100%; Partial Change, +100%; Reflexive, +40%; Unconscious Only, -20%; Uncontrollable, -10%) [328]. Reflexive briefly activates Insubstantiality when hit. Affect Substantial, Can Carry Objects, and Partial Change keep the user from dropping things, falling through the floor, or losing control of other abilities. Unconscious Only and Uncontrollable prevent him from consciously becoming insubstantial – he can only avoid damage. Those with this ability can’t shield others with their body, of course.

The GM may rule that spirits and astral entities (Spirit, p. B263) have the Substantial Communication enhancement, below, on their Insubstantiality instead of Affects Substantial. This reduces the cost of the meta-trait by 48 points and limits them to what astral projectors can do. Of course, in some settings, spirits may have abilities far above and beyond what mere psis do!

Beings largely unaffected by the physical world appear in myth and fiction at least as often as those that can fly. Paradoxically, most such entities can “anchor” themselves to material objects as needed, allowing them to stand on floors, ride in vehicles, and so on. This is a standard feature of Insubstantiality. What the insubstantial form looks like, and the things that can impede it, vary with the origin of the trait:

Dimensional: The traveler transports himself into a dimension parallel to the physical world. He looks slightly transparent, as if he weren’t all there. Any place in the ordinary world that lacks an equivalent location in the other plane is completely off limits. Individuals with dimension-traveling foes often build strongholds in such locales!

Divine: This represents the ability to assume a “god form” that can roam the mortal world at will. The cleric looks normal except for the addition of something symbolic of his patron; e.g., a wreath of flame, for the Fire God. He can’t infiltrate places of no or low sanctity, however; see Special Rules for Divine Powers (p. 175).

Elemental: The user turns into electricity or light, or vibrates at a weird frequency. He becomes a man-shaped glow, visible shimmering, etc., as befits his element. He can’t penetrate barriers that are proof against his element; e.g., a grounded metal cage would exclude an electrical “ghost.” Superscience force fields often block such Insubstantiality.

Magical, Psionic, or Spirit: The user enters the ethereal, astral, or spirit realm (these might be the same or quite distinct, depending on the setting). His appearance is misty and ghostly, and possibly luminous or shadowy. Shamans with spirit powers often look like beasts. Spells, psi abilities, and sorcerous rituals that obstruct spirits also block this ability.

Both Clairsentience (Projection, +140%) and Insubstantiality (Affect Substantial, +100%; Projection, -50%) cost 120 points. They’re comparable, but there are important differences. Notably, Clairsentience gives an invisible form with a 10-yard range limit from the body, while Insubstantiality gives a visible form with no range limit.

To represent partial solidity, use Injury Tolerance (Diffuse) or Shadow Form. To be able to pass through just one substance, take Permeation.

Insubstantiality doesn’t include invisibility. For that, take Invisibility (below), too – possibly with Substantial Only. Insubstantiality does include total silence, though, save when you choose to speak. You’re undetectable to hearing, and need only make Stealth rolls if there’s a chance you’ll be seen.

This ability suits almost any kind of supernatural or elemental power, as noted above. With the Projection limitation, it’s especially suitable for Astral Projection. Talent adds to any roll required to “push through” a resistible barrier or use Insubstantiality for a Power Dodge.

Affect Substantial: If you have any abilities that can affect the substantial world when you are insubstantial - including magic, psionics, or powers with the Affects Substantial enhancement - this advantage costs more. +100%.

Can Carry Objects: Normally, you cannot carry anything while insubstantial. This enhancement lets you carry objects, including clothing and armor. They become physical if dropped. You cannot materialize these objects inside other objects or characters. No encumbrance is +10%; Light, +20%; Medium, +50%; Heavy, +100%.

Ghost Air: You still have to breathe while insubstantial, but it’s not the air of the real world. Treat the insubstantial “plane” as having its own air supply. Thus, other insubstantial entities can still choke you, you can be affected by attacks with Affects Insubstantial and Respiratory, etc., but you can walk through solid matter without worrying about holding your breath. +10%.

Partial Change: You can turn part of your body substantial while other parts remain insubstantial, or vice versa. Thus, you could reach through a wall and tap someone on the shoulder. If you also have Can Carry Objects, you can materialize your hand, pick up material objects, and carry them while insubstantial. +20%, or +100% if you can turn an item you are carrying substantial without dropping it (this requires turning your hand substantial, too).

Substantial Communication: This is a weaker version of Affects Substantial (+100%). You can use any of your mental abilities (psi, magic, etc.) to communicate with the real world. They take the standard -3 to skill unless they have the Affects Substantial (+40%) modifier. This includes abilities that generate sound or light (but not enough to blind, daze, stun, etc.), and those that allow you to project your thoughts or read thoughts. No other abilities will cross over, regardless of their enhancements. +40%.

Always On: You are always insubstantial and cannot materialize. If you have this limitation, there is no -3 to use magic or psionics. -50%.

Usually On: Similar to Always On, but you can materialize for short periods with great effort. Materialization costs 1 FP per second. -40%.

No Vertical Move: You can’t disregard gravity. You must move across a horizontal surface, or along a slope that wouldn’t require Climbing rolls. You still weigh nothing, so you don’t leave footprints and can walk on surfaces that wouldn’t support a solid body, such as the surface of a body of water. -10%.

Noisy: You aren’t silent. You make noises equivalent to footfalls when moving and breathing at all times, and are no harder to hear than an ordinary human. -5%.

Projection: Your body doesn’t become insubstantial. Instead, it falls unconscious and you step out of it in insubstantial form. Like someone using unmodified Insubstantiality, you’re visible and present, making you subject to anything that affects insubstantial entities . . . while your body remains in the physical world, vulnerable to material threats; see Projection (above). You can’t use spells, psi abilities, etc. in this form unless you also take Affect Substantial. -50%.

You usually guess right. When faced with a number of alternatives, and no logical way to choose among them, you can ask the GM to let you use your Intuition. The GM makes a secret IQ roll, with a bonus equal to the number of 'good' choices and a penalty equal to the number of 'bad' choices. On a success, he steers you to a good choice; on a critical success, he tells you the best choice. On a failure, he gives you no information; on a critical failure, he steers you toward a bad choice. The GM can modify this as he sees fit for other situations where Intuition might logically help. Only one roll per question is allowed.

The GM should never allow Intuition to short-circuit an adventure - for instance, by letting the intuitive detective walk into a room, slap the cuffs on the guilty party, and close the case. At the most, Intuition would point the detective in the direction of a good clue. GMs who don't think they can control Intuition should not allow it in their games.

As the ability to compare the current situation to past experiences and make an informed guess, Intuition is ideal for Digital Minds and super-geniuses. Supernatural guidance (e.g., ESP or divine wisdom) is an equally valid interpretation. At the GM’s option, if a skill would normally give useful information in the situation at hand – e.g., Navigation when deciding which way to steer, or Tactics in a military standoff – the user can substitute his level with that skill for IQ when rolling for this ability.

Those who can discover facts without guesswork should take Blessed or Oracle instead.

Intuition is a traditional ability of shamans, and might stem from spirit powers. It’s also appropriate for ESP or any similar information-gathering power, and for divine and moral powers – especially with Inspired. Finally, it could represent the ability to draw upon the collective wisdom of others, making it part of Telepathy. Talent adds to all IQ or skill rolls to use this ability.

Inspired: Your gift is so finely honed that any success while using it reveals the best choice out of those confronting you. The worst possible result on a failure, even a critical failure, is that you don’t know; the GM will never suggest a bad choice. +100%.

You are invisible. Unlike most advantages, this one is 'always on' unless you take a special enhancement. You still make noise, leave footprints, and have a scent - and by default, anything you carry remains visible. If you are carrying nothing, you get a +9 to Stealth in any situation where being seen would matter.

Individuals using paranormal remote viewing (crystal balls, Clairvoyance, etc.) cannot see you if you would be invisible to their normal vision. Devices with these powers can still sense you, as can paranormal abilities that detect enemies, life, and so on nonvisually.

Invisibility only works against one sort of vision. Types include electromagnetic vision (which encompasses ordinary vision, Infravision, Ultravision, and radar), sonar, magnetic fields, and anything else the GM comes up with. If you are invisible to electromagnetic vision, you do not cast a shadow and don't show up in mirrors.

Tales of invisible men – but ironically not The Invisible Man, which inspired many of them – usually assume that Invisibility has Switchable (+10%) and Can Carry Objects (at least +10%). Remember to choose the kind of vision affected. If the GM wishes to allow “total” invisibility, he may rule that +100% worth of Extended interferes with any sense that Invisibility could reasonably affect. Common variants include:

Deception: A ninja or telepath who mentally compels others to believe they can’t see him has Invisibility to electromagnetic vision with Can Carry Objects, Switchable, and Glamour. Deceivers aware of unusual senses might interfere with those, too; add Extended (+20%/type).

Ghost: Ghosts that are invisible to mortals have Invisibility to electromagnetic vision with Usually On (+5%) and Substantial Only (-10%). Traditionally, ghosts can be seen in mirrors and photographs; they have Visible Reflection (-10%), and can’t take Affects Machines.

Stealth Technology: A vehicle or robot that’s invisible to infrared and radar – but not the naked eye – has Invisibility to electromagnetic vision with Machines Only (-50%). The best optical camouflage has Affects Machines (+50%) instead of Machines Only, but still suffers from Fringe (-10%). Stealthy submarines have unmodified Invisibility to sonar; the best add Extended, Magnetic Detection (+20%). Switchable is uncommon, as stealth tends to be a permanent structural feature.

Superscience Cloaking: Space-opera “cloaking devices” give Invisibility to electromagnetic vision with Affects Machines (+50%), Extended, Scanners (+20%), and Switchable (+10%).

Represent partial invisibility using Chameleon. Those who create darkness or smoke in order to hide from sight should take Obscure.

Invisibility is a key ability for Light and Darkness powers. Electrokinesis could allow a psi to jam signals and become invisible to machines – he might even bend light and become truly invisible (a trick called “photokinesis”). The addition of Glamour makes Invisibility suitable for chi powers and Telepathy, too. Talent adds a further bonus to Stealth skill rolls to avoid being seen.

Affects Machines: You are invisible even to machines. You cannot be photographed, and you don't show up on cameras or other detectors. Devices such as pressure plates still notice you, but you could walk past a robot sentry undetected. Electronically targeted weapons get no bonuses to hit you. +50%.

Can Carry Objects: The objects you carry, including clothing and armor, become invisible. They regain visibility when put down. No encumbrance is +10%; Light, +20%; Medium, +50%; Heavy, +100%.

Extended: You are invisible to more than one type of vision (for instance, electromagnetic vision and magnetic fields.) +20% per additional type of vision.

Switchable: You are normally visible, but can become invisible at will. +10%.

Usually On: You are normally invisible, but can become visible for short periods with great effort. Turning visible costs 1 FP per second. +5%.

Machines Only: Similar to Affects Machines, but you are only invisible to machines. Living beings can see you normally. -50%.

Substantial Only: Your invisibility only hides you in the material world. Insubstantial beings (ghosts, etc.) can see you normally. -10%.

Visible Reflection: You can be seen in mirrors! -10%.

Visible Shadow: You cast a shadow! -10%.

Fringe: Your ability leaves a faint outline or shimmering. It works normally when you’re standing still, but if you move, others can spot you with a Vision-6 roll and target you in combat at only -6 to hit. -10%.

Prerequisites: HT 12+.

You may activate this power-up after you’ve gotten hurt and are in a non-combat situation (at least for the moment). For the next 10 minutes, you recover 1 HP per minute – modified as usual for High HP and Healing (p. B424), if applicable. Alternatively, for those 10 minutes, you can recover 1 FP per minute. You cannot do both! You must choose one or the other to recover each time that you rely on this trait. The second level extends this to 30 minutes, while the third extends it to an hour (the maximum level). In either case, you can only activate this ability once every hour of real time.

Advantages: Regeneration (Fast; Accessibility, Non-combat only, -20%; Maximum Duration, 10 minutes, -50%; Restores either FP or HP, +20%; Takes Recharge, 1 hour (Game Time, +0%), -30%) [12]. Level 2 increases Maximum Duration to 30 minutes, for 13 points, while level 3 increases it to 1 hour, for a further 7 points.

You can travel through time or to parallel worlds (sometimes known as 'timelines') merely by willing the 'jump.' Decide whether you are a time-jumper or a world-jumper. To do both, you must buy Jumper (Time) and Jumper (World) separately, at full cost.

To initiate a jump, you must visualize your destination, concentrate for 10 seconds, and make an IQ roll. You may hurry the jump, but your roll will be at -1 per second of concentration omitted (-10 to jump with no preparation at all). Regardless of IQ, a roll of 14 or more always fails. On a success, you appear at your target destination. On a failure, you go nowhere. On a critical failure, you arrive at the wrong destination, which can be any time or world the GM wishes!

You appear at your destination at exactly the same place you left your previous time or world - or as close as possible. When jumping through time, this means the same place at a different time. When jumping between worlds, this means the same place at the same time, but on a parallel world.

If there is no corresponding 'safe' location within 100 yards of your destination - for instance, if you jump while on an airplane to a destination with no plane at your destination, or from a half-mile deep mine to a destination with no corresponding mine - the jump will fail and you will know why it failed. This does not prevent you from jumping into other types of danger, such as radiation, gunfire, or wild animals. If you have Danger Sense, the GM should roll before you make a hazardous jump; on a success, you get a warning.

This ability always costs at least 1 FP to use, whether it succeeds or fails. Particularly 'distant' times or worlds might cost more, perhaps up to 10 FP, at the GM's discretion. If you are a machine, this ability does not cost you FP - but if you have passengers, each of them must pay the FP cost.

Use Jumper (Time) for supers and superscience vehicles that move through time by traveling faster than light, weird-science “time machines,” and so on. Jumper (World) is interdimensional travel for the purpose of visiting alternate timelines. The GM may add other Jumper advantages. For instance:

Jumper (Spirit): You can enter and leave the “spirit worlds” in body. In these realms, you’re a spirit. You can interact normally with the spirits there and use any ability that’s “standard” for spirits in that world. Likewise, anything that affects spirits affects you. To make the transition, use the standard rules for Jumper. Each attempt costs 1 FP. Success on the IQ roll means you shift between realms. Failure means you stay in your current world; you’re at -5 to use this ability again in the next 10 minutes. Critical failure results are up to the GM… you might attract evil spirits, end up adrift between worlds, or go to the wrong world (e.g., Hell). The special modifiers for Jumper (World) are available to you, although not all of them are meaningful in every setting. 100 points.

You can carry up to Basic Lift when you travel, plus any Payload. Take the Extra Carrying Capacity enhancement (below) if you wish to carry more weight, or bring along other people.

However, if multiple Jumpers of the same kind are in physical contact, when one jumps, the others can 'hitch a ride' if they wish - even if the Jumper who initiates the jump does not want company. Only the person initiating the jump makes a die roll; wherever he ends up, the others do, too.

If you are a world-jumper, 'hitching a ride' is the only way to visit a new parallel world (save for a critical failure!) However, once you reach a world, you can memorize its 'feel' by concentrating and spending character points to 'learn' that world as an IQ/Easy skill. This takes one hour per point you wish to spend. Use this skill in place of IQ when you travel to that world in the future. You never have to memorize a world, but if you do not, you roll at IQ-3 to attempt to return.

Time-jumpers have no similar restriction.

You can improve this ability with practice, spending points to add enhancements or remove limitations. GMs who do not want the PCs jumping multiple times per adventure are free to impose mandatory limitations (e.g., Limited Use) that cannot be bought off.

Travelers who “jump” through space need Warp. Seers who receive glimpses of the past, future, or spirit world have Psychometry, Precognition, or Medium, respectively. Neither requires Jumper.

Those who assume or send forth a “spirit form” often have Clairsentience or Insubstantiality. Only use Jumper (Spirit), or Jumper (Time) or (World) with the Projection modifier, for those who truly visit another realm or time.

Jumper (Time) and (World) mainly suit powers concerned with time- or world-travel, such as Teleportation and (with Projection) Astral Projection. Just about any power that grants faster-than-light levels of Enhanced Move (Space) could justify Jumper (Time) with the Special Movement limitation, though.

Jumper (Spirit) is appropriate for spirit powers – as are other forms of Jumper, with Projection. With the Interplanar enhancement, it also suits divine powers.

Talent adds to the IQ roll required to activate any Jumper advantage.

Extra Carrying Capacity: You can carry more than your Basic Lift. If your carrying capacity is high enough, you may transport one person with you. Light encumbrance is +10%; Medium, +20%; Heavy, +30%; Extra-Heavy, +50%.

New Worlds: This is only available for world-jumpers. You can deliberately aim for worlds you haven't visited yet. The IQ roll is always at -3 or worse (GM's decision.) Of course, it is always possible that the desired destination does not exist, in which case the attempt automatically fails - although the GM will not tell you why. All FP costs are doubled when using this enhancement. +50%.

Omni-Jump: This is only available if you are both a world-jumper and a time-jumper! You must apply it to both Jumper advantages. This lets you move between times and timelines on a single IQ roll - for instance, from the present day in our timeline to 1066 A.D. in a parallel timeline where the Norman invasion of England failed. +10%.

Tracking: You can travel to the 'home' time or world of any man-made artifact you can hold or touch. Time-jumpers will arrive shortly after the item was created; world-jumpers will arrive at the current date on the item's home timeline. Any such attempt is at IQ-2, and each Jumper only gets one try per artifact. +20%.

Tunnel: You always create a portal (of about your size) when you jump. Others may pass through it, even if they can't jump. The portal lingers for 3d seconds, which can be good or bad - it means enemies can follow you! +40%.

Warp Jump: This enhancement is only available if you have the Warp advantage. You must apply it to both Jumper and Warp. When you jump, you can simultaneously use Warp to appear anywhere at your destination. Two die rolls are necessary - one per ability - and it is possible for one to succeed while the other fails, or for both to fail. +10%.

Interplanar: For Jumper (World) or (Spirit). You can enter higher planes of existence – perhaps even the realms of the gods. +100% if you can reach these worlds as well as parallel worlds (world-jumpers) or spirit worlds (spirit-jumpers); +0% if you can only reach higher planes.

Reliable: Your ability is unusually stable. Each level of this enhancement adds +1 to both the IQ roll to use Jumper and the automatic failure threshold (e.g., Reliable 2 gives +2 to IQ and mean a roll of 16 or more always fails). +5% per +1, to a maximum of +10.

Faster Concentration: You can ignore part of the penalty for jumping without proper concentration. Each level (up to five) lets you ignore -2 points of penalties, effectively letting you jump with 2 seconds less concentration. +5%/level.

Improved: Your jump does not fail automatically on a 14 or higher; it uses the standard success rules. +10%.

Cannot Escort: This is only available for world-jumpers. Other Jumpers cannot 'hitch a ride', even if you want to bring them along. -10%.

Cannot Follow: This is only available for world-jumpers. You cannot 'hitch a ride' with another Jumper. -20%.

Drift: You do not arrive in exactly the location you left from. You won't arrive in thin air or underground, but you may show up anywhere within 10 miles of your planned destination. The better your IQ roll when you jump, the closer you will be to where you wanted to arrive, but it's the GM's call as to exactly where you appear. -15%.

Limited Jump: You can only travel a certain distance through time, or a certain number of 'removes' between parallel worlds, per jump. To go further, you must make multiple hops. The GM must set the value of this limitation for his campaign; it will be more of a handicap in some settings than in others. A suggested value is -10%.

Maximum Range: You can only jump a certain total distance through time, or a certain number of 'removes' between parallel worlds, no matter how many hops you make. Like Limited Jump, the GM must set the value of this limitation.

Naked: You can carry nothing when you jump! You always arrive naked. -30%.

Stunning: You are always mentally stunned after a jump. -10%.

Limited Access: For Jumper (World) or (Spirit). You can only jump between two particular worlds – your home world and one specific parallel, the material world and Hell, etc. The size of this limitation depends on how many worlds exist in the setting. If there’s only one, it’s meaningless: -0%. If there are many, it might be worth -20% or more, at the GM’s discretion.

Projection: For Jumper (Time) or (World). You travel in mind, not in body. Your body remains at your departure point, unconscious and vulnerable, while your consciousness appears at your destination as a visible but intangible projection. This form is subject to anything that affects insubstantial beings. See Projection (p. 44) for other rules. If you have Insubstantiality, you can “reverse” it in order to become solid; if you have Possession (Spiritual, -20%), you can possess a resident of the target world. -50% if you can’t affect your destination at all without Insubstantiality or Possession; -0% if you can use spells, mental abilities, and Maledictions to affect your destination while projecting. Sending a physical body to your destination as usual, but also leaving behind an unconscious body as described here, is worth -25%.

Special Movement: You need to move to use your ability. Limitation value depends on how stringent the requirements are. If you merely have to walk a few steps and be free of anything that restricts movement (like manacles), that’s -10%. If you need to enter orbit and accelerate past the speed of light with expensive advantages like Flight (Space Flight, +50%) with Enhanced Move 27 (Space), that’s -40%.

Special Portal: You need a particular sort of “gateway” to use your advantage; e.g., a natural cave opening, or a sacred stone circle on a moonlit night. Limitation value depends on the rarity of the required portal. “Any reflective surface” is -20%, as is a relatively common geographic feature. If a summoning ritual that specifically names you creates a “channel” that lets you jump into the presence of your summoner – but nowhere else – that’s -60%. One specific spot at a certain time of the year is -80%.

You have a knack for languages. When you learn a language at a comprehension level above None, you automatically function at the next-highest level; thus, you can purchase a language at Accented level for 2 points or at Native level for 4 points. For full language rules, see Language.

Giant leeches, striges, vampires, and many other traditional and Bmovie monsters suck the life from their victims. “Psychic vampires” and evil spirits usually dispense with the traditional bite. Creepy supers sometimes even have ranged life-stealing abilities.

To use Leech, you must maintain ongoing contact with your victim; a brief touch isn’t enough. In combat, you must grapple or pin him – which is trivial if he’s unconscious or otherwise helpless. Out of combat, options include a long handshake, hug, or more intimate embrace.

While you maintain contact, each level of Leech lets you drain 1 HP per second from your victim. You heal 1 HP per full 3 HP you steal. You can’t raise your HP above normal, but you can continue the drain without healing yourself. The drain ends instantly if you release your victim, or if he breaks free or dies. If he survives, the stolen HP heal like any other injury.

Leech 1 costs 25 points; successive levels cost 4 points apiece. For example, to drain 10 HP per second requires Leech 10, which costs 25 + 9 ¥ 4 = 61 points. At the GM’s option, points of drain convert to dice as described under Modifying Dice + Adds (p. B269); e.g., 4 HP become 1d, 7 HP become 2d, and 10 HP become 2d+3.

Leech only affects living beings. It can’t steal HP from machines or inanimate objects. However, the GM may allow a variant ability – Leech (Mechanical) – that only affects machines. The point cost is identical. With Steal HT, this could represent the ability of “gremlins” to cause machines to fail and break down. Steal FP is off limits.

To work at a distance, Leech requires Malediction 1 or 2 (+100% or +150%) on top of Ranged (+40%). Roll the Quick Contest of Will for Malediction every second (once per turn, in combat). Each victory lets you drain 1 HP per level. You can only affect one victim at a time. A few special enhancements are common:

Accelerated Healing: You heal 1 HP per HP stolen. Your attack doesn’t harm your victim any faster than usual, but it heals you more quickly. +25%.

Hazard: You can combine Steal FP with one of the modifiers under Hazard (p. B104) to steal dreams (Missed Sleep), warmth (Freezing), and so on. Treat the stolen FP as if they were lost to that hazard. Any FP or HP you gain can heal your losses to the same hazard.

Heals FP: Every 3 HP you drain restores 1 HP or 1 FP. You can’t raise FP above normal. +60% if you can choose whether to heal HP or FP; +30% if you only heal FP when healed to full HP.

Steal (Other Score): You steal ST, DX, IQ, HT, or FP instead of HP. ST theft reduces BL and damage. IQ drain lowers Will and Per. ST and HT losses don’t lower HP and FP, though. Attribute losses affect skills based on those scores. Drain occurs at the rate of 1 point per level of Leech. It ceases if the victim’s score reaches 0. Regardless of what you steal, you heal 1 HP (1 FP, with Heals FP or Only Heals FP) per 3 points drained. Your victim regains lost scores at the rate he recovers FP. Cost depends on what you drain: -25% for FP (or +50%, if you drain HP when your victim has 0 FP), +100% for ST or HT, or +300% for DX or IQ. If you can steal more than one of these, buy Leech several times with different enhancements. To use these simultaneously, add Link.

Steal Youth: You permanently age your victim instead of stealing HP. Each second of draining ages him by months equal to your level. See Age and Aging (p. B444) for long-term effects, and note that Unaging subjects are immune. You don’t heal, but may grow a month younger per two months stolen, if desired. This is incompatible with other special modifiers. +300% if victims regain their youth when you die; +450% if truly permanent.

Leeches who must touch their victim’s skin have the Contact Agent limitation (-30%). The traditional vampire has Blood Agent (-40%), and must bite his victim; Sharp Teeth (p. B91) are indispensable. These options and the Ranged option discussed above are mutually exclusive. An additional limitation is specific to Leech:

Only Heals FP: You can’t heal HP. You can only use the HP you drain to restore missing FP, as described for Heals FP. This is incompatible with Heals FP. -20%.

If the goal is just to reduce the victim’s HP, FP, or attributes, consider Innate Attack with Malediction, or Affliction with Attribute Penalty. If healing is what’s important, take Regeneration, or Healing with Affects Self.

If draining others’ HP increases your powers, buy Leech plus a set of abilities with Trigger, Leeched HP. Victims are “Common” and using Leech is illegal in most worlds, so this is a -30% limitation. Alternatively, buy an Energy Reserve (Powers, p. 119) with Special Recharge, fill it up using Leech, and use it with the power-boosting stunts in Chapter 4. To gain powers by stealing them from others, take Neutralize with Power Theft.

Leech fits many supernatural powers. It’s the definitive ability of so-called “psychic vampires,” who might have their own Vampirism power. It’s also suitable for sinister divine and moral powers, and for spirit powers that command “astral vampires.” With appropriate limitations, it could instead belong to a macabre biological power that lets the user derive sustenance from blood… like the classic vampire of Gothic horror. Talent adds to all rolls to affect the target – including attack rolls to touch victims and Will rolls to use Leech with Malediction.

You are a law enforcer, with the accompanying powers and restrictions. In some times and places, this amounts to a license to kill. In others, it's little more than the right to carry a badge and write parking tickets.

The point cost depends on the kinds of laws you enforce, the size of your jurisdiction, how answerable you are for your actions, and the degree of respect you must show for the civil rights of others:

• You have local jurisdiction, the ability to arrest suspected criminals, the power to perform searches with an appropriate warrant, and possibly the right to carry a concealed weapon. Examples: a Victorian bobby or a modern policeman. 5 points.
• As above, but you also have national or international jurisdiction, or are not obligated to respect the civil rights of others, or are free to engage in covert investigations, or may kill with relative impunity. Examples: an FBI agent or a medieval Royal Guardsman. 10 points.

* You have three or more of the above abilities. Examples: a Gestapo, KGB, or Stasi agent. 15 points.

Legal Enforcement Powers almost always require an appropriate Duty. In some cases, a Reputation (positive, negative, or mixed) is also appropriate. All levels of Legal Enforcement Powers include Police Rank 0. To become a senior law enforcer, buy more Rank.

Cinematically, this advantage’s benefits apply when the user is in his jurisdiction (one city or county for 5 points, a nation for 10 or 15 points) and conducting himself properly (showing his badge, demanding surrender before shooting, etc.). In the movies, this lets heroes get away with many things that would land most people – even card-carrying spies and soldiers – in hot water. Simply flashing his badge and delivering a canned speech gives him +3 to all reaction or Influence rolls made to order ordinary citizens to step aside, hand over a vehicle, tell him which way the bad guy went, etc. Other authorities won’t hassle him when he pulls a concealed weapon or when the bad guy he’s fighting falls three stories onto a noodle cart; in fact, he gets the same +3 to convince them to help! None of this requires an Assistance Roll (from Pulling Rank).

Benefits of the 15-point version over the 10-point one are that it lets the agent engineer a bailout regardless of what he was arrested for, arrange for people to disappear, and request access to sinister facilities like brainwashing chambers. These things do require an AR. He can conduct searches and plant bugs without making an AR for a warrant, however.

Again, none of this has much to do with real life. It’s just how things work in the movies!

You are exempt from some or all of the laws of your society. Should you break the law, ordinary law enforcers do not have the power to charge you. Only one particular authority - your own church or social class, a special court, perhaps even your ruler - can judge or punish you.

The point cost depends on how sweeping the immunity is (GM's judgment):

• You are not subject to ordinary laws, but the rules that govern your behavior are just as strict. Examples: a medieval abbot or a modern UN observer. 5 points.

• As above, but the laws that apply to you are less strict than those that apply to most people. Example: a medieval bard (see below). 10 points.

• You can do nearly anything you please provided you don't injure the nation, church, or other power that granted you Legal Immunity in the first place. Examples: a medieval duke or an international diplomat (see below). 15 points.

For an extra 5 points, you may add 'diplomatic pouch' privileges: you can send and receive mail or objects that the ordinary authorities cannot legally stop or examine.

Two classes of Legal Immunity are of special interest to adventurers:

Bardic Immunity: You have the right to sing what you please without fear of serious consequences. You may even sing a grossly insulting song to the king - you might get banished for it, but you can't be whipped, imprisoned, or killed. Anyone who violates your immunity risks damage to his name and reputation. Other bards will compose and distribute vicious satires about him, giving him a bad Reputation. They might even expose a Secret, if he has one! This advantage applies to the content of your performances and nothing else. It is only available to true bards, in fantasy/medieval settings. To qualify for this advantage, you must spend at least 1 point apiece on the Performance, Poetry, and Singing skills. 10 points.

Diplomatic Immunity: You are an international diplomat. You may ignore the laws of all countries except your own. While abroad, you cannot be prosecuted for any crime, no matter how grave; the local police may arrest you, but they cannot press charges. The only recourse for a foreign government is to declare you persona non grata. This means you must leave the country at once, ending your current assignment - and possibly your career. Foreign powers may request your extradition for normal prosecution, but your government is unlikely to comply. This trait always comes with a Duty to a government agency, and often has some level of Administrative Rank as a prerequisite. 20 points.

You need less sleep than most people. A normal human requires 8 hours of sleep per night. Each level of this advantage - to a maximum of four levels - lets you get by with one hour less than this, giving you a few extra hours each day in which to study or work on other projects.

You have lifting capacity out of proportion to your mass. This is common for vehicles and supers. Add your Lifting ST to your ordinary ST when you determine Basic Lift for the purposes of carrying, lifting, pushing, and pulling. Lifting ST also adds to ST in situations where you can apply slow, steady pressure (grappling, choking, etc.) Lifting ST does not boost ST (or Basic Lift) for the purpose of determining HP, throwing distance, or damage inflicted by melee attacks or thrown weapons.

If you bought your ST with the Size limitation, apply the same limitation to Lifting ST. The No Fine Manipulators limitation does not give a discount, however.

Lifting ST is realistic for beasts of burden (e.g., horses and mules) and slow-but-powerful machinery – cargohandling exoskeletons, tugboats, etc. Comic-book supers are often capable of extreme lifts; see the Super-Effort enhancement (below) for a way to handle this.

Lifting ST only augments basic ST for lifting, pushing, etc. – and for grappling and choking in combat. To increase damage with melee weapons, take Striking ST. Those who want all of these benefits and more HP should just improve their ST.

Prerequisite: Trained by a Master.

Cinematic grapplers may have up to two levels of this advantage. It adds to ST for all purposes when grappling, but never for strikes – armed or unarmed.

Lifting ST could belong to a biological body-control power or a mattercontrol power that affects mass or density. Divine and chi powers might use Lifting ST – perhaps with Costs Fatigue or Super-Effort – for the ability to perform “heroic feats.” Talent modifies Will and HT rolls for extra effort and to avoid self-inflicted injury while lifting.

This optional enhancement is intended for demigods and supers. With it, Lifting ST becomes more efficient than usual after eight levels… and gets better from there. Thus, it’s only of value to heroes with a significant investment in Lifting ST. If the GM sets a limit when using this modifier, it should be at Lifting ST +8 or higher.

Super-Effort: You can make truly heroic lifts! Your Lifting ST works as usual except when you use extra effort. Then ignore the ordinary extra effort rules. Instead, find your Lifting ST level in the Size column of the Size and Speed/Range Table, read across to the Linear Measurement column, and use that number as your ST bonus for the lift. For instance, Lifting ST +20 gives +5,000 ST. This costs 1 FP per lift. Once you’ve made the lift, use Abilities and Exertion for ongoing FP costs. Walking around with or pulling the weight counts as “intensive use” (1 FP/minute); just holding it up is “long-term use” (1 FP/hour). You can’t take Reduced Fatigue Cost to eliminate these costs unless you also add Cosmic (+50%). Super-Effort never benefits chokes or grapples. +400%.

Grip ST: Your Lifting ST applies only to close-combat grappling. It has no effect on Basic Lift, and never benefits carrying, lifting, pulling, pushing, shoving, etc. -30%.

You have the ability to do math in your head, instantly. This talent comes in two levels:

Lightning Calculator: You, the player, may use a calculator at any time, to figure anything you want - even if your character is fleeing for his life! For simple math problems, the GM may just say that your character knows the answer. 2 points.

Intuitive Mathematician: As above, but your ability is not limited to arithmetic. You can perform astrogation without a computer, do any level of engineering design in your head, and solve differential equations almost instantaneously. You never need a calculator; you yourself are far faster than that, and even faster than many computers. 5 points.

True mathematical geniuses will have one of the above traits and one or more levels of Mathematical Ability (see Talent).

Your lifespan is naturally very long. You fail aging rolls (p444) only on a 17 or 18 - or only on an 18, if your modified HT is 17 or better!

You were born lucky! There are three progressively more 'cinematic' levels of Luck:

Luck: Once per hour of play, you may reroll a single bad die roll twice and take the best of the three rolls! You must declare that you are using your Luck immediately after you roll the dice. Once you or anyone else has made another die roll, it is too late to use Luck. If the GM is rolling in secret (e.g., to see if you notice something), you may tell him you are using your Luck ahead of time, and he must roll three times and give you the best result. 15 points.

Extraordinary Luck: As above, but usable every 30 minutes. 30 points.

Ridiculous Luck: As above, but usable every 10 minutes! 60 points.

Your Luck only applies to your own success, damage, or reaction rolls, or on outside events that affect you or your whole party, or when you are being attacked (in which case you may make the attacker roll three times and take the worst roll!)

You cannot share Luck. If Strong Sam is trying to kick open a door, Lucky Lou can't stand behind him and transfer his Luck. He'll have to kick that door himself.

Once you use Luck, you must wait an hour of real time (30 minutes for Extraordinary Luck, 10 minutes for Ridiculous Luck) before using it again. You cannot use Luck at 11:58 and then again at 12:01. And you cannot save up Luck. You cannot play for hours without using Luck and then use it several times in a row!

For the fictional protagonist, Luck is usually a “meta-advantage” – a deliberate effort by the storyteller to give him the benefit of the doubt at every turn of the plot. It’s rarely an active ability known to him and acknowledged by his companions. Still, heroes who are conscious of their luck do exist in fiction, especially in the comics.

Use Daredevil (p. B47) for those whose “luck” depends on risk-taking, Serendipity (p. 73) for heroes whose luck takes the form of coincidence rather than good odds, and Super Luck (p. 80) for masters of probability manipulation.

Luck is a traditional gift from otherworldly guardians, making it suitable for divine and spirit powers. With Active or Wishing, it might instead be part of a probability-control power; this could have almost any source, but is commonly associated with psi in fiction. Talent gives a bonus to any die roll influence by Luck – but only if that use of Luck is declared in advance.

Wishing: You can consciously manipulate probability. You may request two rerolls for any die roll made in your presence – not just your rolls – and choose the one you prefer. It isn’t enough for you, the player to see the dice roll; your character must witness the action you wish to influence. Normal usage limits still apply. The Active limitation is common but not required. +100%.

Active: Your Luck is a conscious supernatural power. You must declare that you are using it before you roll the dice. It cannot be used 'after the fact' to reroll a bad result. -40%.

Aspected: Your Luck applies only to one specific class of related tasks, such as athletics, social interactions, or skills you use at your job. 'Combat' is a valid choice, but it only affects weapon skill rolls, active defenses, and ST or DX rolls for close combat - not DX rolls to avoid tripping, HT rolls to survive, etc. -20%.

Defensive: You can only use your Luck to reroll failed active defense rolls, resistance rolls, or HT rolls to resist the effects of injury, or to make an opponent reroll a critical hit against you. -20%.

Prerequisites: Quick Gadgeteer.

You ignore penalties from Familiarity (p. B169) for skills that rely on machines, technology, science, etc. Furthermore, each level of this trait lets you ignore -1 in skill penalties when dealing with low- or ultra-tech devices. This functions all the time. More than five levels of this trait are overkill unless the GM is constantly using weird technology, sending the party through time, etc.

Perks: Cross-Trained! [5]*; Unique Technique (Anachronistic Training) [1]; Unique Technique (Ultra-Tech Training) [1]. Techniques: Anachronistic Training! (H) Skill+1 [6]; UltraTech Training! (H) Skill+1 [6]. Additional levels increase both techniques by a level [+6}.

* See p. 5 for an explanation of wildcard perks.

Prerequisites: Inventor! at 18+ and Quick Gadgeteer. As long your effective Inventor! skill is 3 or higher, you don’t need to actually make a roll to use it; you simply succeed. You must still roll to determine how many bugs your invention has, but any failure is treated as ordinary success giving 1d/2 minor bugs. At the second level, you ignore this as well!

Advantages: Quick Gadgeteer [50] acquires an enhancement: Cosmic, No Die Roll Required, +100% for 50 points. Level 2 adds Cosmic, No Bugs, +50% for 25 points.

You are magically adept. This advantage comes in levels. You must purchase Magery 0 before buying higher levels of Magery.

Magery 0: This is basic 'magical awareness', a prerequisite for learning magic in most worlds. The GM makes a Sense roll when you first see a magic item, and again when you first touch it. On a success, you intuitively know that the item is magical. A roll of 3 or 4 also tells you whether the magic is helpful or dangerous, and about how strong it is. Those without Magery do not get this roll! 5 points.

Magery 1+: Higher levels of Magery make it much easier to learn and use magic. Add your Magery to IQ when you learn spells. For instance, if you have IQ 14, Magery 3 lets you learn spells as if you had IQ 17. Add your Magery level to Perception when you roll to sense magic items, and to IQ when you learn Thaumatology skill.

Reduce the time required to learn new spells in play (but not the point cost) by 10% per Magery level, to a minimum of 60% of the usual time at Magery 4. For instance, with Magery 3, you would learn spells in 70% the usual time.

Powerful spells require a minimum level of Magery as a prerequisite, so be sure to skim the Spell List (p242-253) when deciding how much Magery you need. Note that high Magery lets you produce powerful results with even the most basic spells; see Magery and Effect (p237). The GM sets the maximum Magery allowed to PCs. Magery 3 is about right for 'classic fantasy.' 10 points/level (on top of the 5 points for Magery 0).

The use of Magery becomes tricky in nonmagical backgrounds. You still have the ability to sense magic, but until you gain experience with magic, the GM should not say, “That idol is magical,” but, “That idol looks very strange to you, very sinister. You sense there is something special about it.”

If you are from a nonmagical culture, you do not start with any spells, but you can still learn magic if you find an opportunity. When you enter a magical world, those who can detect your aura recognize you as a potential magic-user. How they react depends on the setting.

Magery 0 costs 5 points for all mages, but you may apply one of the limitations below to the 10 points/level for Magery 1+. Limited Magery is sometimes known as 'aspected Magery.'

Dance: You must be free to use bodily motions in order to cast spells. You are not freed from rituals requiring movement as your spell level increases (see Magic Rituals, p237). However, you need not speak at all to cast your spells. -40%.

Dark-Aspected: You can only use your powers in darkness. Regardless of the time of day or night, any light greater than candlelight or starlight deprives you of your abilities, though your aura reveals that you are a mage. -50%.

Day-Aspected: You can use your powers only when the sun is in the sky - on average, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. During solar eclipses, you have no powers! The effects of other astronomical events are up to the GM. When the sun is down, you have none of your magical abilities, although a look at your aura reveals that you are a mage. You are not affected by being in buildings, underground, and so on; only the sun's position matters. You know automatically (if you are awake) when it is one minute to sunrise and one minute to sunset. -40%.

Musical: You must use a musical instrument in order to cast spells. You can never cast spells silently. -50%.

Night-Aspected: You can only use your powers when the sun is not in the sky - on average, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. When the sun is up, you have none of your magical abilities, although a look at your aura reveals that you are a mage. You are not affected by being in buildings, underground, and so on; only the sun's position matters. You know automatically (if you are awake) when it is one minute to sunrise and one minute to sunset. -40%.

One College Only: Your Magery only benefits the spells of a single college and the Recover Energy spell (p248). You learn other spells as though you were a nonmage, and can only cast them in high-mana areas. You may still count such spells as prerequisites for spells in your own college. You cannot detect magic items unless they contain at least one spell of your college, in which case you roll normally for detection on first sight and first touch. -40%.

Solitary: Your magical abilities are at -3 for every sapient being within five yards of you, and -6 for anyone touching you. As partial compensation, you get a roll vs. IQ to notice any time a sapient creature enters or leaves the five-yard area around you - but this only works on a single person. If there is already someone standing next to you, you won't notice if someone else approaches. -40%.

Song: You must be able to sing in order to cast your spells. You are not freed from the ritual of speaking to cast spells as your spell level increases (see Magic Rituals, p237). -40%.

You are less likely to be affected by magic. Subtract your Magic Resistance from the skill of anyone casting a spell on you, and add it to your roll to resist any spell that offers a resistance roll. For instance, if you have Magic Resistance 3, wizards have -3 to cast spells on you and you get +3 to resist. In addition, you may roll against HT + Magic Resistance to resist the effects of magical elixirs. You cannot 'turn off' this advantage to let friendly wizards cast spells on you (e.g., to heal you) or to benefit from helpful elixirs!

Magic Resistance only interferes with spells cast directly on you. It provides no benefit against Missile spells (which are cast on the wizard's hand and hurled at you), attacks by magic weapons, or information-gathering spells that aren't cast directly on you. It also has no effect on supernatural powers other than magic; e.g., divine miracles, psionics, or the innate powers of spirits.

Magic Resistance, and its precise level, can be recognized by any mage who looks at your aura, or by anyone who casts a spell on you.

You cannot combine Magic Resistance with Magery. If you have even one level of Magic Resistance, you can't cast spells at all (although you can still use magic weapons).

Improved: Your Magic Resistance does not interfere with your own ability to cast spells. This allows you to possess both Magery and Magic Resistance. +150%.

Prerequisites: Speed Reading at 16+, Thaumatology at 17+, and at least one Ritual Mastery.

You’re so practiced at casting the spells covered by your Ritual Mastery, or reading from a grimoire, that you’re treated as if you have Ritual Adept when either condition is met. The downside: this completely replaces the bonus you’d normally get in such circumstances. At level 2, if you have both Ritual Mastery and an appropriate grimoire, then you get the reduced casting times as well as the bonus to skill.

The GM should carefully consider this power-up, as it can threaten the witch’s niche. For a group without a witch, this makes the sage a more attractive option.

Advantages: Ritual Adept (Limited Scope, Ritual Mastery or a grimoire at hand, -30%; Nuisance Effect, Replaces the usual benefits of Ritual Mastery or grimoires, -30%) [16]. Level 2 reduces the value of the Nuisance Effect to (-10%), and allows it to be ignored in certain circumstances, for 8 points.

You negate magical energy ('mana') in your vicinity, making it difficult or impossible for others to cast spells. You can never cast spells yourself, nor can you have any level of Magery.

Each level of Mana Damper (to a maximum of three) reduces the local mana level by one step, but only for you and people or things that you're carrying. For instance, a wizard could throw a fireball at you unhindered, but he would find it difficult to use magic to turn you to stone or read your mind. For details, see Mana.

Neither “mana level” nor the ability to alter it is a traditional concept – but in game-mechanical terms, a high level of Mana Damper is superior to Magic Resistance for magic-resistant fantasy denizens, while Mana Enhancer can explain lone wizards and dragons in prevalently nonmagical settings. Of course, Mana Damper is only worthwhile if magic exists, and Mana Enhancer is chiefly of use to those who cast spells.

Those with potent magical gifts might be able to adjust the mana level either way. The GM should require those who want Mana Damper and Mana Enhancer to take the Switchable special enhancement (+100%) on both traits – and Variable (+5%), if either trait can alter the ambient mana by more than one level. This is expensive because it’s powerful: if the user has Magery, he can elevate the mana level when casting spells… and then lower it to neutralize enemy magic.

Compare Mana Damper to Neutralize and Static against magical powers. A high level of Magic Resistance is cheaper than either, but also less capable.

These advantages rarely suit powers other than magical ones. Exceptions might be the divine power granted by a god of magic, or a specialized psionic power that manipulates mana fields. Talent applies mainly to Power Block attempts.

Area Effect: Your ability affects everything in an area centered on you. The first level of Area Effect gives you a radius of one yard. Each level after the first doubles this radius as usual; see Area Effect. +50%/level.

Switchable: You can switch this power off - for instance, to let a friendly wizard affect you or operate within your area of effect. +100%.

Discriminatory: You and any allies in your area of effect enjoy the best mana level your ability can provide – highest if casting spells, lowest if resisting them – while enemies in the area suffer the worst level you can generate. This modifier includes Switchable, and replaces the Selective Area enhancement for Mana Damper and Mana Enhancer. +150%.

You radiate magical energy, or 'mana.' Each level of Mana Enhancer (to a maximum of two) increases the local mana level by one step, but only for you and people or things that you're carrying. If more than one character with Mana Enhancer could increase the mana level, apply only the highest increase; do not add the effects together.

This ability does not directly confer the ability to cast spells; for that, take Magery. However, if you can raise the mana level to 'high' or better, you can cast many spells without Magery! For details, see Mana (p235).

This ability has its drawbacks: you cannot have Magic Resistance, and mages get an IQ + Magery roll to sense that you possess this trait. In some game worlds, this combination may force you to hide from unethical wizards!

The GM should keep this trait under strict control, as it is powerful and easily abused in fantasy settings.

Area Effect: Your ability affects everything in an area centered on you. The first level of Area Effect gives you a radius of one yard. Each level after the first doubles this radius as usual; see Area Effect. +50%/level.

Switchable: You can switch this power off in order to deprive enemy wizards of its benefits (or simply to hide from them!) +100%.

Discriminatory: You and any allies in your area of effect enjoy the best mana level your ability can provide – highest if casting spells, lowest if resisting them – while enemies in the area suffer the worst level you can generate. This modifier includes Switchable, and replaces the Selective Area enhancement for Mana Damper and Mana Enhancer. +150%.

Prerequisites: IQ 16+ and Eidetic Memory.

You are considered to have Accented comprehension in any language you theoretically could have studied. An expenditure of Wild Talent or Serendipity ensures this even if you lack the normal prerequisites for the language (reduce your comprehension by a level if you lack prerequisites). Language Talent raises this to Native comprehension! The exceptions are inhuman tongues (Champions, p. 24) and any other language the GM feels you couldn’t possibly have learned.

You understand a number of languages equal to your level in this power-up (in addition to any ones you know by having the appropriate Language trait). Each time you use this power-up, you can choose a different combination of languages.

Thus, with Master Linguist 1, you can comprehend any one additional language at a time. With Master Linguist 2, you could translate between any two languages and any language you know. And so on.

Advantages: Cosmic Power 4 (Languages Only, -50%; Limited, No Special Languages, -5%) [19/level].

You can perceive and communicate with spirits - particularly spirits of the dead. You don't see them visually, but you know when they're nearby. You can speak with any spirit in your presence, provided you share a language. You can also call spirits to you; there is no guarantee that they will answer your summons, but they will hear it. Note that this trait does not give you a reaction bonus with spirits, or any power to control their behavior.

Medium is the ability to sense the presence of and speak with nearby unbound spirits (ghosts, “wild” elementals, etc.) – not spirits of the living or spirits bound to objects. It also works on “spirits of place,” but only within the spirit-inhabited area. At the GM’s option, variant forms might instead let the user speak with residents of the dream world, parallel universes, or cyberspace. Each form is a separate Medium advantage.

Alternatives To grasp the motivations of spirits and improve your odds of persuading them, take Spirit Empathy. Use Detect (Spirits) [10] to sense the presence of spirits that are bound, possessing someone, or too distant to speak with. To see spirits more than a yard away – even those with whom you aren’t communicating – buy a suitable form of See Invisible. None of these traits lets you speak with spirits.

If you can force spirits to become visible or solid against their will, buy an Affliction that cancels Invisibility or Insubstantiality via Negated Advantage. If this only affects spirits, or certain kinds of spirits, add an Accessibility limitation.

If spirits simply possess you in order to speak with others, that’s Channeling.

Medium is appropriate for any supernatural power, but especially spirit powers and ESP. Talent adds to all IQ or skill rolls made to perceive or understand spirits.

Manifestation: Your presence makes it easier for spirits to become visible, if they wish. As long as they’re within a yard of you, those with the Spirit meta-trait needn’t pay the 1 FP per second demanded by the Usually On limitation on their Invisibility. +100%.

Universal: You can communicate with any spirit you can sense with Medium, even those with whom you don’t share a language. +50%.

Visual: You can see spirits while communicating with them, even if they would normally be invisible. +50%.

In many settings, Medium requires a ritual or séance to use. If so, add Preparation Required. Another common limitation:

Specialized: Your ability only works with one specific class of spirits. Possibilities include angels, demons, elementals, faerie creatures, and ghosts. -50%.

Culture Sense: Social Chameleon (Accessibility, Must converse with subject, -20%; Exposure Time, 1 minute, -30%) [3] + Xeno-Adaptability (Accessibility, Must converse with subject, -20%; Exposure Time, 1 minute, -30%) [10]. Notes: The user temporarily adjusts to foreign social norms through careful observation or “psychic osmosis.” After a minute of conversation with a sapient being, he no longer suffers penalties for cultural unfamiliarity or differences in Rank or Status. These benefits last for as long as the user interacts with that person or members of the same culture, and for a minute afterward. 13 points.

Mindshare: Mindlink (10 billion people; Racial, -20%; Vague, -50%) [33] + Telesend (Broadcast, +50%; Racial, -20%; Vague, -50%) [24]. Notes: The communication ability of “hive minds” in speculative fiction. Each member of the race sends his emotions and general experiences (no details!) to every other member at all times, with no chance of failure. 57 points.

Sampler: Mimicry (Voice Library, +50%) [15] + Photographic Memory (Accessibility, Sounds only, -80%) [2]. Notes: The user stores recordings of everything he hears. He can play back sounds exactly as he heard them, sample them selectively, or just borrow a voice to use with his own speech. 17 points.

Tactical Radio: Radio (Burst, 1,000×, +90%; Increased Range, ×20, +40%; Secure, +20%) [25]. Notes: A long-range (200 miles) radio capable of encrypted bursts. Attempts to intercept it are at -3 and require the eavesdropper to win a Quick Contest of interception skill against the sender’s IQ to understand the message. 25 points.

Universal Translator: Mind Reading (Hearing-Based, -20%; Telecommunication, Telesend, -20%; Universal, +50%) [33] + Telesend (Universal, +50%) [45]. Notes: The possessor can project his thoughts to make himself understood to anyone, regardless of language. After establishing outgoing contact, he can open full two-way communication. This lets him understand his subject’s words and intentions – if he can hear that person speak. 78 points.

Compel Truth: Mind Probe (Accessibility, Must converse with subject, -20%; Vision-Based, -20%) [12]. Notes: To use this ability, the user must be close enough to touch his subject, engage his mark in conversation, and maintain eye contact. If he satisfies all three requirements, he can compel the subject to give one truthful answer per minute. Roll a Quick Contest of IQ vs. Will for each question. 12 points.

Cyberpsi: Mind Control (Conditioning, +50%; Cybernetic Only, -50%) [50]. Notes: The ability to seize control of a computer or other Digital Mind. The controller must see or touch his subject. Success lets him operate it remotely. Once “inside,” he can try to rewrite its programming (Conditioning). Use Computer Operation for rolls to establish control and Computer Hacking for reprogramming attempts, where either is superior to IQ. 50 points.

Data Probe: Mind Probe (Based on HT, +20%; Cybernetic Only, -50%; Invasive, +75%) [29]. Notes: A sensitive electromagnetic probe that affects Digital Minds. The user must touch – or be close enough to touch – the computer, and roll a Quick Contest of IQ vs. the HT of its hardware (this represents its shielding). If he wins, he can root through its memory by making an uncontested roll against the higher of IQ or Computer Hacking for each piece of data. 29 points.

Emissions Scan: Mind Reading (Based on HT, +20%; Cybernetic Only, -50%) [21]. Notes: Enables the user to learn what’s being typed on the keyboard and displayed on the screen of a terminal right now. To do this, he must have a line of sight to the subject and win a Quick Contest of IQ vs. the HT of the computer hardware. 21 points.

Emotion Control: Mind Control (Accessibility, Only affects members of own or similar race, -20%; Emotion Control, -50%; Independent, +70%) [50]. Notes: Directly implants an emotion of the controller’s choice in the subject. Roll IQ vs. Will, as usual. This endures without further concentration. Doesn’t work on aliens, animals, monsters, or anything else with emotions foreign to the user. 50 points.

Illusion Disguise: Elastic Skin (Glamour, Will-4, -10%; Reduced Time 4, +80%) [34]. Notes: Alters the possessor’s appearance by projecting a suggestion into the minds of those who can see him. This takes no time. Viewers can shrug off this influence by making a Will-4 roll. 34 points.

Linguistic Programming: Mind Control (Area Effect, 8 yards, +150%; Conditioning, +50%; Emanation, -20%; Hearing-Based, -20%; Independent, +70%; Takes Extra Time 1, -10%) [160]. Notes: By speaking for two seconds in a master language understood by all sapient minds, the user can “program” anyone within earshot. He can give short- or longterm instructions, and then leave his thralls to execute his orders. Gods often have this ability – usually with Cosmic (+300%). 160 points (310 points with Cosmic).

Mental Illusions: Illusion (Mental, +100%) [50]. Notes: Totally hijacks the subject’s perceptions. This requires constant concentration. Roll IQ vs. the subject’s Will. 50 points.

Mental Trace: Special Rapport (One-Way, +20%; Transferable, Any willing/helpless living being, +100%) [11]. Notes: Mentally bonds one subject to the user, who can then discern his subject’s mental state at any time. Establishing the bond requires a minute, an IQ roll, and a willing or helpless target. 11 points.

Mind Clouding: Invisibility (Can Carry Objects, Heavy, +100%; Glamour, Will-4, -10%; Switchable, +10%) [80]. Notes: The user projects a mental compulsion that makes his body and all of his equipment invisible to living beings. Viewers can see through the ruse by making a Will-4 roll. 80 points.

Mindswitch: Possession (Mind Swap, +10%; No Memory Access, -10%; Ranged, +40%; Specialized, Own race, -40%) [100]. Notes: The user can swap minds with another member of his race at a distance. To do so, he must win a Quick Contest of IQ against his target’s Will, applying standard range modifiers to his roll. After the swap, neither party has any access whatsoever to the other’s mind – just the body. 100 points.

Suggest: Mind Control (Independent, +70%; Suggestion, -40%) [65]. Notes: Lets the controller implant a suggestion by winning a Quick Contest of IQ vs. his subject’s Will. The victim acts upon the suggestion as if it were his idea. This requires no further concentration on the user’s part. 65 points.

Super-Hypnotism: Mind Control (Independent, +70%; No Memory, +10%; Suggestion, -40%; VisionBased, -20%) [60]. Notes: Lets the user implant suggestions with a glance. This requires eye contact; a touch isn’t enough. If the controller wins the Quick Contest of IQ vs. his victim’s Will, he can silently convey a suggestion. The subject then carries this out independently – there’s no need for further concentration. 60 points.

Telecontrol: Possession (No Memory Access, -10%; Ranged, +40%; Specialized, Own race, -40%; Telecontrol 2, +100%) [190]. Notes: Allows the user to control the physical actions of a distant subject without relinquishing control of his own body. He must win a Quick Contest of IQ vs. his target’s Will. Standard range modifiers apply. The invader remotely operates his victim’s body but has no access to the subject’s mind. He can only affect members of his own race or a nearly identical one. 190 points.

Telereceive: Mind Reading (Multiple Contacts, +50%; Sensory, +20%; Telecommunication, Telesend, -20%) [45]. Notes: Enables the user to read the surface thoughts and sensory impressions of multiple subjects (at -1 per additional subject), but only after contacting them with Telesend. Thus, Telesend is a prerequisite. This has one perk: the user can receive from subjects he can’t see by “touching” them mentally. 45 points.

Absolute Morals: Intuition (Aspected, Moral decisions, -20%; Inspired, +100%) [27]. Notes: The user knows, with 100% certainty, what his religious or philosophical beliefs would have to say about any situation. He can distinguish “good” people, places, and items from “evil” ones without special senses, and always knows what behavior would appease or anger gods, spirits, etc. 27 points.

Divination: Precognition (Active Only, -60%; Directed, +100%; Reliable +8, +40%) [45]. Notes: The seer must deliberately meditate on one specific question about the future. On a successful IQ roll, he experiences a glimpse of the future pertinent to his question. He never has passive visions – even if he’s in severe danger. 45 points.

Pattern Analysis: Common Sense (Conscious, +50%; Link, +10%) [16] + Intuition (Inspired, +100%; Link, +10%) [32] + Oracle (Digital; Inspired, +100%; Link, +10%) [32]. Notes: Lets the user analyze available data and predict outcomes in real time. Make a single IQ roll for the entire ability. Success reveals the safest course of action; the most effective path, and its risks; and any choices doomed to failure, and why. It can’t predict total coincidence or supernatural interference, however. 80 points.

Retrocognition: Psychometry (Active Only, -20%; Directed, +50%) [26]. Notes: The seer must deliberately meditate on a specific question about the past. A successful IQ roll gives him a glimpse of past events surrounding his question. He never has spontaneous visions – even when exposed to potent psychic residues. 26 points.

Second Sight: Precognition (Can’t See Own Death, -60%; Passive Only, -20%) [5]. Notes: Weak precognition, similar to that claimed by most realworld psychics. At random intervals, the possessor gets brief glimpses of random events. He can’t control the content or timing, and has no special capacity to sense danger. 5 points.

Time-Scanning: Psychometry (Active Only, -20%; Directed, +50%; Immersive, +100%; Mundane, -30%) [40]. Notes: The scanner mentally replays time at his location. This takes an active effort, and doesn’t zero in on strong emotions or important events. He sets start and end times… and then watches history unfold in real time (he can’t “fast forward”). 40 points.

Analyze Magic: Detect (Magic; Analyzing, +100%; Short-Range 1, -10%) [19]. Notes: Gives the user a Sense roll, at -1 per yard to the target, to detect and analyze magic at roughly the same level of detail as the Analyze Magic spell (p. B249). 19 points.

Astral Sight: Medium (Specialized, Astral Beings, -50%; Visual, +50%) [10]. Notes: Enables the user to see the Astral Plane and communicate with entities therein. This ability doesn’t work on ghosts, demons, and so forth unless they happen to be astral. 10 points.

Electronic Support Measures (ESM): Detect (Radar and Radio; Precise, +100%; Signal Detection, +0%) [20]. Notes: On a successful Sense roll, this ability detects radar and radio signals, and reveals the distance to each source. Make an IQ roll to analyze the signal; success tells a random emission from a targeting lock. 20 points.

Hydrophone: Discriminatory Hearing (Accessibility, Only underwater, -30%; Link, +10%; Profiling, +50%) [20] + Vibration Sense (Water; Link, +10%; Targeting, +20%) [13]. Notes: Senses moving objects in the water. Make one Sense roll, modified as for Vibration Sense (p. B96), but with +4 for Discriminatory Hearing. Success reveals the target’s general class (e.g., “nuclear attack sub”), location, and vector, and gives +8 to identify it, +4 to shadow it, and +3 to hit it with an aimed attack. 33 points.

Remote Viewing: Clairsentience (Clairvoyance, -10%; Increased Range 19, +190%; Preparation Required, 1 hour, -50%) [115]. Notes: This ability simulates the extrasensory capabilities attributed to secret research projects by conspiracy theorists. After an hour of special exercises and meditation, the viewer can displace his vision to any place on the planet! (Increased Range 19 comes to over 11,000 miles; Earth’s diameter is about 8,000 miles.) 115 points.

Tactical Radar: Radar (Increased Range, ×100, +60%; LPI, +10%; MultiMode, +50%; Targeting, +20%) [48] + Enhanced Tracking 4 (Accessibility, Only with Radar, -10%; Multiple LockOns, +20%) [22]. Notes: Advanced radar, like that of a fighter jet. It can track five targets at once out to 100 nautical miles, identify them at 1/10 that range, and give +3 to hit any of them with an aimed attack. 70 points.

Targeting Laser: Ladar (Reduced Range, ×1/2, -10%; Targeting Only, -40%) [10]. Notes: A built-in laser rangefinder with an operational range of 100 yards. Trained on something already spotted by another sense (usually sight), it places a visible dot on the target and measures its precise range. This gives +3 to hit with aimed attacks. 10 points.

Telescan: Detect (Sapient Minds; Analyzing, +100%; Long-Range 1, +50%; Precise, +100%) [70]. Notes: Detects sapient minds at great distances. A successful Sense roll gives the location and race of everyone nearby – handy for locating guards and ambushers! A follow-up IQ roll reveals the name a particular person would give if asked; roll once per person. Only a critical success discovers a secret identity. 70 points.

Total Awareness: Clairsentience (Aware, +50%; Reduced Range, ×1/10, -30%; Second Nature, +70%) [95]. Notes: Gives the user a second set of ranged senses that he can put anywhere within a yard of his body and aim in any direction. He can use and shift the focus of these senses effortlessly, letting him perceive what’s going on behind him, in darkness or smoke, etc. at all times. A classic ability of ancient kung fu masters! 95 points.

Ultra-Scan: Para-Radar (Bio-Scan, +50%; Penetrating, +50%; Scanner, +50%) [100]. Notes: This ability works like a superscience sensor suite. It ranges and images the target, analyzes its emissions and composition, and supplies a schematic of the interior – complete with details on occupants and machinery. It works in any environment. The GM should let it do anything he has seen a sensor do in a space-opera movie. 100 points.

X-Ray Vision: Para-Radar (Link, +10%; Penetrating, +50%; Reduced Range, ×1/2, -10%) [60] + Toxic Attack 1d-2 (Link, +10%; Radiation, +25%) [3]. Notes: Quasi-realistic X-ray vision. The user emits radiation out to 100 yards whenever he activates his sense. He must make an attack roll for his Toxic Attack against anything he spots – but it’s possible to make the Sense roll and fail the attack roll. For “harmless” X-ray vision, use Penetrating Vision. 63 points.

You can control normally involuntary biological functions such as pulse, blood flow, digestion, and respiration. Each level of Metabolism Control gives +1 on any HT roll that would benefit from such control (GM's decision), including bleeding rolls (see Bleeding, p420) and rolls to recover from (not resist) disease and poison.

You can also enter a deathlike trance. Anyone unfamiliar with your metabolism must win a Quick Contest of Diagnosis vs. your HT + Metabolism Control to discover that you aren't dead. In this state, each level of Metabolism Control reduces by 10% the amount of oxygen you need to stay alive (at level 10 or higher, you don't breathe at all), and doubles the amount of time you can safely go without food or water. You are unaware of your surroundings while in your trance, but awaken automatically if injured. You may also set a mental 'alarm clock' to awaken you after a certain amount of time has passed.

This ability is incompatible with the Machine metatrait.

The ability to control involuntary bodily functions is a classic shtick of kung fu masters and yogi, not to mention supers and aliens modeled after them. It needn’t have mystical overtones, though – genetic engineering or implants might give this advantage to a modified human or cyborg. At the GM’s option, Metabolism Control lets the user feign afflictions: disease, drug reactions, heart attack, etc. To discover the ruse, witnesses must win a Quick Contest of Diagnosis vs. the user’s HT + Metabolism Control.

Consider Injury Tolerance (No Blood), Doesn’t Breathe, or Doesn’t Eat or Drink for those who don’t bleed, breathe, or eat at all. If all that matters is a HT bonus, Resistant is a better deal.

This ability best suits biological, chi, and psi powers – especially Body Control and Healing. Talent adds to HT in the Quick Contest to feign death and for any similar feat the GM allows.

Mastery: You can make precise adjustments to your metabolism and body chemistry instantly, helping you cope with even extreme or unexpected stresses. As long as you’re conscious, add your level of Metabolism Control to any HT roll. +40%.

Hibernation: You can only use the trance ability, and get no bonus to HT rolls. Furthermore, you automatically enter a trance when exposed to certain environmental conditions - great cold, drought, etc. Work this out with the GM. In such conditions, you must make a Will roll to avoid hibernation. You can induce hibernation voluntarily. To do so, roll vs. Will-4 hourly until you succeed. You cannot set a precise 'wake up' time. Set a duration, then multiply by (2d + 3)/10. -60%.

You can see details that would normally be invisible without a magnifying glass or a telescope. Each level increases magnification by a factor of 10: 5 points gives 10x, 10 points gives 100x, and so on. This magnification only applies to objects within 1' by default.

Level 1 suffices for ordinary forensic investigation. Level 3 (1,000x) is equivalent to the best optical microscopes. Level 5 (100,000x) is comparable to an electron microscope, capable of imaging viruses. Level 6 (1,000,000x) is on par with a scanning-tunneling or atomic force microscope, and can study an object's atomic structure.

Microscopic Vision is most common among robots and crimefighting supers. It lets those who have it do fine work or gather microscopic evidence without any equipment penalty for being without a magnifying lens.

Supers sometimes add Ranged (+40%), which makes it possible to distinguish minute detail on distant objects. This ability works at full magnification out to 1/2D range (10 yards) and at 1/3 that out to Max range (100 yards). Make two Vision rolls: one to spot the object, one to see minute details.

Use a combination of Blindness and Microscopic Vision for someone who can see tiny details at point-blank range, but not distant objects or the normal-sized world.

Like any vision advantage, Microscopic Vision suits Light power and possibly ESP. Supers with size-control powers might have this ability alongside Shrinking. Talent adds to all Vision rolls for this ability.

You can duplicate any simple sound (alarm, gunshot, etc.) by listening to it for one second and making a successful IQ roll. You can also imitate voices by spending at least 10 seconds listening to them - live, recorded, or remotely - and making an IQ roll.

This trait gives you no special ability to stun or deafen others with loud sounds, or to speak unpronounceable magic words. Buy any such capabilities separately.

This trait is typical of parrots, doppelgangers, robot assassins, and other beings that are physiologically or technologically adapted to emulate sounds and voices. It’s up to the GM whether it can emulate the “voiceprints” that high-tech security systems use to verify identity.

Mimicry can imitate but not communicate with animals – use Speak With Animals for that. Mimicry can’t produce inaudibly low- or high-frequency sounds unless the user also has Subsonic Speech or Ultrasonic Speech. Ordinary human mimics have Mimicry skill. The GM may permit those who have that skill to use the higher of it or IQ when rolling to use this advantage.

Mimicry fits elemental Sound/- Vibration power and most body-alteration powers. It’s also a likely ability for powers pertaining to animals or illusions. Talent adds to IQ rolls to duplicate sounds or imitate voices.

Voice Library: You never forget any sound or voice you’ve successfully mimicked. It’s the player’s job to maintain this list. To recall a sample, take a Concentrate maneuver and make an IQ roll. +50%.

You can mentally dominate those you can see or touch. To use this ability, concentrate for one second and then roll a Quick Contest: your IQ vs. your subject's Will.

Modifiers: Range penalties to the subject; -1 per slave already under your control; +2 if you concentrate for a full minute, or +4 if you concentrate for a full hour.

If you win, your victim will obey your every command until you free him. In effect, he temporarily gains the Reprogrammable disadvantage, with you as his master. Your control persists for as long as you take uninterrupted Concentrate maneuvers. Once you stop, your control lingers for one minute per point by which you won the Quick Contest. (To increase this, add Extended Duration.) If you are incapacitated (stunned, knocked out, etc.), or attempt to force the subject to act against his principles (e.g., commit suicide or harm a loved one), roll another Quick Contest. If your victim wins, he breaks free. Roll at the moment of truth - you can march him to the edge of a cliff, but he doesn't roll until he's about to leap.

If you lose, you cannot attempt to control that subject again for 24 hours, and he feels a sense of mental coercion emanating from you. On a critical failure, you also lose control of anyone else under the influence of this ability!

Mind Control often has limitations: Accessibility (Only on opposite sex), Sense-Based (for hypnotic voices, eyes, scents, etc.), and so on. It also may have attack modifiers, subject to the restrictions that apply to attacks with Malediction. Finally, you may apply the Cybernetic and Cybernetic Only modifiers from Mind Reading (see below).

Folklore attributes the ability to control minds to a great many supernatural entities, including demons, nymphs, vampires, and deities. This is likely a diplomatic scrim over the realities of insanity or criminality… but the tales could be true in a fantasy or horror setting. Most innate gifts use unmodified Mind Control. Add Telepathic (-10%) if the influence is psionic. A few alternatives:

Cinematic Hypnotism: The controller must lock eyes with his victim and hypnotize him in order to give commands. This calls for Vision-Based (-20%). Suggestion (-40%) is common.

Drugs: The attacker uses a drug to make his victim suggestible. This requires a bite, kiss, or more intimate contact. Some time after exposure, the subject gets a HT-based resistance roll. Add Based on HT (+20%), Blood Agent (-40%), Independent (+70%), and Onset (1 minute or 1 hour) (-10% or -20%). If anyone can command the subject, add the Puppet limitation (-40%).

Pheromones: The user exudes an invisible chemical cloud that inspires attraction in those exposed to it. Victims must be within two yards and breathe the gas – this ability doesn’t work by touch or sight. The controller can only command one subject per second, at the usual -1 per subject after the first. Add Area Effect 1 (+50%), Emanation (-20%), and Scent-Based (-20%). Accessibility (Only on opposite sex) (-20%) and Emotion Control (-50%) are likely but not required.

Vibrations: The controller emits vibrations that influence emotions. Add Emotion Control (-50%), with Based on HT (+20%) for inaudible vibrations or Hearing-Based (-20%) for audible sounds (common for fantasy bards and mythic sirens).

Extreme levels of Charisma can often achieve similar effects. The ability to turn others into Allies over the long term is Dominance, while that of entering the subject’s mind and operating his body directly is Possession.

Mind Control is appropriate for many supernatural powers, especially Telepathy. In addition, hypnotism is common for chi powers, pheromones fit biological and chemical powers, and vibrations suit Sound/Vibration power. With Cybernetic Only, Mind Control even allows control over computers (“cyberpsi”) – the definitive Machine Telepathy ability. Talent adds to IQ rolls to use the ability in all cases.

Conditioning: You can reconstruct the subject's psyche and implant suggestions. In effect, you can add or remove any mundane mental disadvantage. Add Delusions for false memories, or Amnesia to wipe memories. Your victim must be under your control, cooperative, and conscious. Roll a second Quick Contest. You are at -1 per full -5 points of disadvantages changed, but you may substitute Brainwashing skill for IQ. Duration in days is equal to your margin of victory. If you win and roll a critical success, the conditioning is permanent! A conditioned subject who is no longer under your direct control imposes no penalty on the use of Mind Control on others. Note that another person with this ability can use it to undo your work. +50%.

No Memory: Your victims have no memory of anything that occurred while under your control. +10%.

Independent: Your Mind Control doesn’t require ongoing attention. If it works, you’re free to do other things. You must still concentrate to initiate control, but you can’t claim the +2 or +4 for lengthy concentration. If the victim fails to resist, control persists for one minute per point by which he lost the Quick Contest; you can’t maintain it indefinitely by concentrating. These drawbacks are minor next to the benefits. First, only an attempt to force the subject to act against his principles can break control; you’re “out of the loop” already, so incapacitating you changes nothing. Second, since your attention isn’t divided, each contact is separate from all others; there’s no -1 per slave, and critical failure with one victim doesn’t free the rest. +70%.

Rationalization: The subject remembers everything he did, but he is convinced that he chose to do so. He will react to behavior too bizarre to be rationalized by pushing it out of his mind and not thinking about it. Hypnotism, Psychology, and Telepathy can be used to eventually bring out the truth. +20%.

Slow and Sure: This enhancement must be combined with Conditioning or Conditioning Only. Your conditioning attempts take one hour, but the effects are permanent (barring therapy, hypnotism, etc.). No special effect occurs on a critical success. This is an +80% enhancement if you can choose whether to use slow and sure or normal conditioning, or +40% if you must always use slow and sure.

Optional, less “slow” versions cost more. Add an extra +30% if your attempts take 10 minutes (instead of an hour), an extra +45% if they take one minute, and an extra +75% if they take 10 seconds.

Conditioning Only: You cannot use regular Mind Control - only Conditioning (above). Uncooperative victims must be restrained before you can use your ability. -50%.

Mind Tricks: You can’t control the subject precisely, but you can give him general suggestions and affect his feelings. See the Suggest and Sway Emotions skills (pp. B191-192) for guidelines. This limitation comprises Suggestion and Emotion Control. -30%.

Puppet: Your victims have no initiative while under your control, and temporarily acquire Slave Mentality. -40%.

Telepathic: Your ability is part of the Telepathy psi power (p257). -10%.

Emotion Control: You can’t control the subject’s actions, just his feelings. For some guidelines on what’s possible, see the Sway Emotions skill. Emotion Control is mutually exclusive with Conditioning Only and Suggestion. -50%.

Suggestion: You can’t command the subject to take specific actions – you can only suggest a general course of action. Effects are as for Suggest skill. Suggestion is mutually exclusive with Conditioning Only and Emotion Control. -40%.

Zombie Command: You can only control zombies. Each target’s racial template must be worth less than your own (fewer than 0 points, if you’re human). In a campaign with many zombie types, you may limit scope further using Accessibility. -25%.

You can perform a deep 'mind probe.' In effect, you can force the subject to answer any one specific question that he can answer with a brief sentence. To attempt a probe, you must first either touch your subject or successfully read his mind with Mind Reading. You must also share a language with him.

To use Mind Probe, you must concentrate for one second and roll a Quick Contest of your IQ (or Interrogation skill, if higher) vs. your subject's Will. If you win, you rip the answer from his mind. The answer is what the subject believes to be true - if he doesn't know, he'll tell you. If you lose, you may try again, at a cumulative -2 per repeated attempt to ask the same (or very similar) question in the past hour. Should you critically fail, you cannot probe that person again for 24 hours.

You may use Mind Probe to ask as many questions as you wish, but each question is a new use of your ability, and requires a second of concentration and its own Quick Contest.

Mind Reading is the basic “receive” ability common to telepaths, regardless of origin. Mind Probe is a deep scan or mind-meld; in many ways, it’s a higher level of Mind Reading, and the GM might elect to make Mind Reading a prerequisite. Both traits are open to interpretation as interrogation under truth drugs; see the notes under Mind Control (above) for modifiers and details. If the subject must vocalize his reply, add Accessibility, Must hear subject, -20%.

Alternatives Use Empathy to “read” emotions instead of thoughts. To send thoughts, take Telesend.

Mind Control can also reveal a subject’s thoughts: just command him to tell you everything he knows. Of course, this is significantly less subtle.

Mind Probe and Mind Reading are classic psionic abilities associated with Telepathy (or Machine Telepathy, with the Cybernetic Only limitation), but any supernatural power might offer them. Talent adds to IQ and skill rolls made to use either.

Invasive: Your probe works like a mental invasion, not an interrogation. If you win the Quick Contest, you’re inside your subject’s mental defenses and free to pillage his memories. You’re still limited to one question per second, but each answer requires an uncontested roll against IQ, Interrogation, Psychology – or Dreaming, if the subject is sleeping. +75%.

Memory Bank: Mind Probe only. You can store a detailed “snapshot” of the subject’s mind. This requires the usual Quick Contest, but takes an hour. A later IQ roll lets you recall information the subject knew when last probed (just as if you were probing him) or his personality (eliminating penalties to impersonate him with Acting). You can delete a snapshot at any time. +100% if you can store a number of snapshots equal to IQ; +150% for unlimited capacity.

Cybernetic: You can affect entities with the Digital Mind trait, including all ordinary computers. Your IQ roll has a penalty equal to the system's Complexity. A nonsentient system does not resist; just roll vs. IQ - Complexity to succeed. +50%.

Sensory: You can also tap into your subject's senses. This lets you experience everything he experiences. If he is tortured, knocked out, or killed, the GM may require a Will roll to avoid stunning - or perhaps even a Fright Check! +20%.

Universal: You automatically understand thoughts, even those of nonsapient subjects and those with whom you do not share a language. +50%.

Cybernetic Only: As for Cybernetic, but you can only read Digital Minds. -50%.

Racial: Your ability only works on those of your own race or a very similar race (for instance, humans are similar to elves, but not to dogs or trolls.) Combine this with the Sense-Based limitation (Touch or Scent) to represent a race that can share thoughts through biochemical means. -20%.

Sensory Only: As for Sensory, but you can't read thoughts at all. -20%.

Telecommunication: Your ability only works on those with whom you are presently in contact via Telecommunication. -20%.

Telepathic: Your ability is part of the Telepathy psi power. -10%.

You can eavesdrop on others' surface thoughts. You must be able to see or touch the subject to affect him. Concentrate for one second and roll a Quick Contest of IQ vs. the subject's Will. Modify the roll for range penalties to the subject.

If you win, you can 'hear' everything the subject says, subvocalizes, or actively thinks about as a voice in your head. Received thought comes at the speed of speech. If you do not understand the language, or if your subject isn't sapient, you only pick up feelings, images, and general intent. You can maintain Mind Reading for as long as you wish without further concentration. If you switch to another person, you must stop reading your current subject and roll a Quick Contest with the new subject. To read multiple subjects at once, take Compartmentalized Mind.

If you lose, you may try again, at a cumulative -2 per repeated attempt on that subject in the past hour. Should you critically fail, you cannot read that person again for 24 hours.

Mind Reading is often psionic in origin, but it is just as likely to be a magical, divine, or even technological ability.

The Sense-Based limitation - especially Touch-Based - is common. If you take Hearing-Based, you can only read the thoughts of someone whose words you can hear, but can function as a 'truthreader' or (with Universal) a 'universal translator.'

Cybernetic: You can affect entities with the Digital Mind trait, including all ordinary computers. Your IQ roll has a penalty equal to the system's Complexity. A nonsentient system does not resist; just roll vs. IQ - Complexity to succeed. +50%.

Sensory: You can also tap into your subject's senses. This lets you experience everything he experiences. If he is tortured, knocked out, or killed, the GM may require a Will roll to avoid stunning - or perhaps even a Fright Check! +20%.

Universal: You automatically understand thoughts, even those of nonsapient subjects and those with whom you do not share a language. +50%.

Multiple Contacts: Mind Reading only. You can maintain channels to several minds at once. Roll at a cumulative -1 per contact after the first. You can switch between established contacts without rolling, but you must focus on one contact at a time to read minds. In combat, choose whose mind you’re reading each turn. +50%.

Cybernetic Only: As for Cybernetic, but you can only read Digital Minds. -50%.

Racial: Your ability only works on those of your own race or a very similar race (for instance, humans are similar to elves, but not to dogs or trolls.) Combine this with the Sense-Based limitation (Touch or Scent) to represent a race that can share thoughts through biochemical means. -20%.

Sensory Only: As for Sensory, but you can't read thoughts at all. -20%.

Telecommunication: Your ability only works on those with whom you are presently in contact via Telecommunication. -20%.

Telepathic: Your ability is part of the Telepathy psi power. -10%.

You have a 'shield' that warns you of and defends against mental attacks. Add your Mind Shield level to IQ or Will whenever you resist an advantage with the Telepathic limitation and whenever you resist a spell listed under Communication and Empathy Spells or Mind Control Spells.

Your shield also resists attempts to locate your mind using magic or psionics. Such abilities must win a Quick Contest against your Will + Mind Shield level to find you.

You may voluntarily lower your Mind Shield if you wish - for instance, to let a friend read your mind. Lowering or raising it is a free action, but it must take place at the start of your turn. Mind Shield does protect you while you are asleep or unconscious, unless you fell asleep or were knocked out while your shield was voluntarily lowered.

Mental shields are “in genre” for psis, shamans, wizards, martial artists, and others with training at gathering inner strength to ward off psychic incursions. In worlds where mental powers are commonplace, anyone might be able to build up a Mind Shield (GM’s decision).

In settings with many different supernatural powers and abilities, the GM should let Mind Shield add to IQ, Will, and Perception for the purpose of resisting any paranormal influence – including advantages with the Glamour limitation (p. 11). For less sweeping protection, add Limited (below).

This advantage is so useful that GMs may wish to even allow it to nontelepaths in a campaign that restricts all PCs to one power. Anyone with Mind Shield is automatically alerted to failed telepathic attempts against him. Successful attempts use the rules under Detecting Psi (Psionic Powers pp. 11-12).

With the Cybernetic limitation (-50%), Mind Shield represents “hardened” computer security for Digital Minds. Cybernetic is a specific example of Limited; don’t take both.

Magic Resistance (p. B67) and certain varieties of Resistant (p. 71) protect against many of the same things that Mind Shield does. Static (p. 98) is a superior defense, but prevents the user from having other psychic abilities.

People who have studied “mental self-defense” might have the skills Mental Strength and Mind Block instead of Mind Shield.

Lockdown: Your mind is a trap for unwary mind readers. Any time you successfully resist a mental attack, roll a Quick Contest of your Mind Shield skill against the attacker’s skill. If you win, he becomes trapped within your shield! See A Cage of Thought (p. 66) for details. +100%.

Profiling: When someone fails to penetrate your Mind Shield, you know what ability he was trying to use. This gives you +2 on any follow-up abilities to determine more information about the attack. +10%.

Reflection: Your shield bounces telepathic attacks back at your foes. Any time you successfully resist an attack, if your Mind Shield level exceeds your foe’s original margin of success, he is affected by his ability instead of you! This is most effective against Mental Blow, Mental Stab, Sleep, and Psychic Vampirism abilities, but it will typically cause at least one second of mental stun (after which roll Will every second to snap out of it) for anything more aggressive than Telereceive. +100%.

Active: Your Mind Shield requires (sub)conscious effort to maintain. It drops automatically when you are asleep or if you fail a Will roll when drugged or drunk. This is incompatible with Always On. -25%.

Always On: You cannot drop your shield. Even if you choose to waive your resistance roll, your shield will try to resist for you, using its level+5 (or your normal resistance roll, if lower). This is incompatible with Active. -10%.

Cybernetic: Your shield protects against computer-related attacks - e.g., the 'Digital' form of Possession and the 'Cybernetic' form of Mind Probe or Mind Reading - instead of magic and psi. This limitation is only available to those with Digital Mind. -50%.

Feedback: Your shield interferes with your own Psychic Vampirism and Telepathy abilities, imposing a -1 penalty per level unless you lower it. This is only a meaningful limitation for those who have these abilities, of course. -25%, or -50% when combined with Always On.

Telepathic: Your ability is part of the Telepathy psi power. -10%.

Limited: Your Mind Shield only works against certain mental attacks. An entire power source (e.g., divine, magical, psionic, or spirit) is -50%; a specific focus, power, or college of magic (e.g., Telepathy or Mind Control spells) is -75%.

You have a permanent telepathic rapport with someone - often a twin, loved one, hive member, etc. You automatically succeed at all attempts to contact him with Telesend (see Telecommunication) and Mind Reading, providing he chooses not to resist or has Slave Mentality. Mindlink does not allow automatic contact across interstellar distances (more than 0.1 light-year), nor can it reach other dimensions, parallel worlds, etc.

Mindlink costs 5 points for a single person, 10 points for 2-9 people, 20 points for 10-99 people, 30 points for 100-999 people, and so on - add 10 points per tenfold increase in the number of people.

As a rule, the GM should only permit PCs to buy Mindlinks with Allies, Contacts, and Dependents; duplicates (see Duplication); and other PCs (if their players permit).

You may give Mindlink the same modifiers as your Mind Reading or Telesend advantage. In most cases, the GM should require this.

You have a pool of character points that you can reallocate under certain conditions. You may rearrange these points to add a skill (spell, technique, etc.) or mental advantage temporarily - or to improve such a trait, if you already have it. When you do, you lose any abilities to which those points were previously assigned.

This advantage comes in 'slots.' A slot can hold one skill or mental advantage at a time. Each slot has a fixed base cost, plus a cost per point in the pool for that slot. Both costs depend on the type of Modular Abilities you have.

Computer Brain: Your abilities are actually computer programs. The GM decides whether a program exists for a given ability. If you have Telecommunication, you may download programs, usually from a network. How long this takes depends on the speed of data transfer in the setting - a second per character point works well. In some worlds, you must pay for such programs; $100 per character point is typical. This is for AIs and cyborgs with implanted computers, who download programs instead of plugging them in. The Physical enhancement rarely makes sense, but the Virtual limitation is common and definitely allowed for those who can only use their abilities online or in “cyberspace.” Cost per slot: 6 points base + 4 points per point of abilities.

Chip Slots: As above, but the programs come on physical chips that you must plug into a socket - usually in your skull. It takes three seconds to insert or remove a chip. Chips typically have negligible weight, but cost $100 to $1,000 per point of abilities. Use this for cyborgs with removable hardware. This usually means “skill chips,” but with the Physical enhancement, sockets for standardized equipment modules – “Gadget Slots” – are an option. Add Limited if these sockets can only accept a specific type of equipment. Cost per slot: 5 points base + 3 points per point of abilities.

Super-Memorization: You gain new abilities through rapid study. This takes a second per character point. You can 'forget' a memorized ability instantly. You can only memorize abilities if you have a suitable reference work (book, film, tape, etc.) The GM determines the cash cost of such works. This suits wizards and cinematic geniuses. Physical is rarely appropriate, as few physical advantages are “memorized.” Limited frequently restricts use to spells, languages, or specific classes of skills. Cost per slot: 5 points base + 3 points per point of abilities.

Slotted Cosmic Power: Like regular Cosmic Power, you simply wish new abilities into being. However, this Modular Ability comes in “slots,” and you can only assign one trait to a slot. This takes one second. Due to the pricing structure, a 1- point slot should be bought as normal Cosmic Power instead. Cost per slot: 7 points base + 5 points per point of abilities.

Cosmic Power: You simply wish new abilities into being. This takes one second per ability. Unlike other Modular Abilities, you only ever have one 'slot', and can rearrange your points into as many or as few abilities as you wish, to the limit of your advantage. Ideal for gods and supers! The Physical enhancement is common. Use Limited to confine gods to a “sphere of influence” or restrict supers to an element. If they shape existing matter or energy, and are powerless without it, add Environmental instead. 10 points per points of abilities.

Telepathic Learning: You can “tap into” the minds of people nearby and borrow their knowledge. The points in each slot can be used only to add skills and learnable advantages (such as languages); this takes seconds equal to the number of character points being added. The catch is that someone within one mile must know the trait that you’re adding (GM’s call) – and you cannot add more points than he has in the trait. If the distance between you and the nearest “donor” becomes more than a mile, you lose the trait! Cost per slot: 5 points base + 4 points per point of abilities.

Example: Alex buys two Chip Slots at a base cost of 5 points/slot. This costs 10 points. One slot can hold a chip with a single ability worth up to 2 points, and costs 6 points. The other can hold up to 5 points, and costs 15 points. Total cost is 31 points. This appears on Alex's character sheet as 'Chip Slots 2 (2, 5).' Alex will have to buy, borrow, or steal the chips he uses - but he need not pay character points for them.

Use Preparation Required to increase the time needed to rearrange your points, and Limited Use to represent an ability that you forget immediately after using it.

The GM may invent other forms. Set the per-slot cost to reflect the scope of available traits: 4 points for a short list, 5 points for a lengthy catalog, 6 points for nearly anything, and 7 points for anything. Cost per point in a slot should be 2 points if rearranging points is costly, slow, and subject to external interference; 3 points if just two of those; 4 points if only one of those; and 5 points if none of those. For example:

Divine Inspiration: Your abilities are minor wishes granted by a Higher Power. You can request nearly any ability at any time (add Physical or Social to have more options). However, your deity – as played by the GM – occasionally overrules you. Reallocating points requires at least a second of prayer per character point. Cost per slot: 6 points base + 4 points per point of abilities.

Reconfiguring Modular Abilities can slow down the game. To prevent this, the GM should encourage players to work out and list favorite abilities before play begins. To speed things up further, the GM may rule that some tasks require a minimum number of points in Modular Abilities, stipulate that the user be able to add mental, physical, or social abilities, but stop short of naming specific traits; e.g., “This task requires 40 points in physical abilities.” Anyone whose Modular Abilities are up to the challenge can perform such a task – although this might still require a success roll.

Heroes who can manipulate a particular element precisely enough to generate a wide variety of effects that don’t emulate other advantages have Control and/or Create. Those who can become anything have Morph. And those who simply do things without acquiring abilities have Wild Talent. Modular Abilities are expensive – even with limitations – because they’re so flexible. Those with a small number of related, mutually exclusive abilities should see Alternative Abilities for a more affordable option.

Modular Abilities suit capable users of any power. Add Limited (or Environmental) and Physical as needed to restrict them to the types of abilities normally allowed for the power.

Apply the power modifier to the Modular Abilities themselves but not the traits they’re rearranged into (doing both is double-counting). Talent adds to all rolls to use any of the advantages granted by Modular Abilities.

Physical: Your ability is not limited to skills and mental advantages. +50% for physical advantages only, or +100% for any mental or physical ability.

Social: You can add social advantages. Work out how you do this with the GM. If you somehow alter records, the GM may limit available traits to Alternate Identity, Clerical Investment, Independent Income, Legal Enforcement Powers, Legal Immunity, Rank, Security Clearance, Tenure, and Zeroed. +0% for social advantages only; +50% for any mental or social ability. To add any ability, combine Social, +50% with Physical, +100%; other combinations are forbidden.

Many fictional users of Modular Abilities require supreme concentration and effort to rearrange their abilities. Represent this using Costs Fatigue, Requires (Attribute) Roll (p. 112), and Takes Extra Time. It is acceptable to fill Modular Abilities slots with advantages that have limitations. These limitations can only duplicate those on Modular Abilities if they represent a different set of drawbacks. For instance, if your Modular Abilities have Costs Fatigue, you can add an Innate Attack with Costs Fatigue, because a FP cost for rearranging points isn’t the same limitation as a FP cost for attacking. If your Modular Abilities have Environmental, though, none of the advantages they grant can claim this limitation.

Limited: You can only acquire a specific subset of traits. Most such restrictions fall into one of two broad categories.

Your Modular Abilities might be focus-limited, meaning you can only add traits that you could logically simulate by shaping or controlling a particular focus. For instance, Limited, Fire would allow Burning Attacks, DR that blocks physical projectiles (by vaporizing them), Temperature Control, etc. – but not Fangs or Parabolic Hearing. Limitation value depends on the degree of restriction:

A highly versatile focus that amounts to a special effect; e.g., green force fields or motion: -5%.

Any ordinary variety of matter or energy; e.g., electricity, fire, light, sound, or water: -10%.

Anything more specialized; e.g., spider webs: -15%.

Most focus-limited Modular Abilities have Physical, +50% (“physical advantages only”). The GM can make exceptions, but these should be rare – few forms of matter or energy can be shaped into mental advantages or skills.

Those with Environmental can’t claim Limited for the same conditions; this is built into the value of Environmental. For example, if Green Thumb’s Cosmic Power only allows him to control vegetation – a -40% Environmental limitation – he can’t also claim -15% for Limited. The fact that he manipulates plants automatically limits him to advantages that plant control can emulate.

Modular Abilities can also be trait-limited, meaning you can only add a specific subset of traits related by function rather than focus:

Advantages Only or Skills Only (includes techniques): -10%.

A broad class of advantages (e.g., Attacks Only or Body Parts Only) or skills (e.g., Spells Only or Technological Skills Only), or only being able to add points to abilities you already have: -20%.

A medium-sized class of related abilities (e.g., Combat Skills Only or Social Skills Only), a subset of a broad class (e.g., Senses Only or Fire Spells Only), or all forms of a flexible, powerful advantage (e.g., Afflictions Only or Innate Attacks Only): -30%.

A subset of a medium-sized class (e.g., Unarmed Combat Techniques Only or Vision Advantages Only), or one specific form of a flexible, powerful advantage that’s easy to customize with modifiers (e.g., Toxic Attacks Only, which can simulate most diseases and poisons): -40%.

One specific trait that allows specialization but not modification (e.g., Languages Only, which doesn’t let you break ciphers, read encoded data, or grasp concepts simply by learning the words for them), or one flexible advantage subject to restrictive modifiers (e.g., Only Afflictions with Based on Will and Malediction 1, or Only Allies with Minion and Summonable): -50%.

Mental Only, Physical Only, and Social Only aren’t allowed. Modular Abilities are always limited to mental traits without Physical or Social. Take Physical, +50% if restricted to physical advantages, or Social, +0% if restricted to social ones. The presence or absence of Physical and Social does affect the permissible forms of Limited, however. For instance, those with Physical can’t limit themselves to a subclass of mental traits, while those without Physical can’t restrict themselves to a group of physical traits. Focus- and trait-limited aren’t mutually exclusive. For instance, super-gadgeteers often combine the two. They’re focus-limited to superscience gadgets (-5%); the focus they manipulate is “available spare parts.” They’re also trait-limited: “Advantages With Gadget Limitations Only” (-20%). This requires Physical, +50%, and often comes with a high level of Preparation Required to reflect time in the workshop.

Spells Only: Your ability only works with magic spells, which must usually be 'memorized' from a grimoire. This is mutually exclusive with Physical. -20%.

Virtual: The abilities gained only apply in virtual reality, astral space, or another limited realm. -50%.

Prerequisites: Any skill listed for a specific monster type at 14+.

Pick one of the following: angels, cryptid, demons, freewilled spirits, ghosts, lycanthropes, mummies, parasites, psis, witches, vampires, zombies, or another foe available in the campaign. You get +1 to all rolls when dealing with that specific creature type. Moreover, once per game session, you may increase the bonus granted by Monster Expert on any pertinent non-combat roll to twice your Monster Expert level plus one (for example, Monster Expert 2 would give you a +5 to a single non-combat roll once per session).

Additional levels increase the requirements for skill level by two per level (e.g., Monster Expert 2 requires an appropriate skill at 16+). You may have up to four levels of this power-up.

The GM may allow you to specialize even further! For example, you could have Monster Expert (Werewolves) or Monster Expert (Yetis). This gives +1 beyond the normal benefits. As an even more optional possibility, you can choose a specific group or specific subject! The former grants you an additional +2; the latter gives an additional +2 and allows you to claim the non-combat skill bonus once per hour instead of once per game! If the subject of your specialty is killed, you either lose the points invested, or gain half the trait’s value as a more generalized Monster Expert power-up and/or Reputation – GM’s choice.

Advantages: Higher Purpose (Slay Specific Monster) [5/level].

Perks: Monster Expert* [1/level].

* Gives +1 per level once per game session to noncombat rolls against a specific class of monster selected when the perk is taken.

Prerequisite: Combat skill at 20+.

Some adventurers are exceptionally effective at fighting a particular class of beings. This could be due to special training (“I’m a card-carrying Golem Hunter for the Wizards’ Guild.”), growing up in a rough area (like Hell), or good old hate. Anyone who masters a combat skill – that means skill 20+ – can buy Higher Purpose [5] to reflect this.

This advantage gives +1 on all rolls – attacks, defenses, damage, resistance, spells, Traps, etc. – to defeat one specific category of creatures. Valid classes are Constructs, Demons, Dire Animals, Elder Things, Elementals, Faeries, Hybrids, and Undead, all as defined in Dungeon Fantasy 2: Dungeons. Every two combat skill levels past 20 allow another Higher Purpose (for 5 points more).

Most of these movement abilities consist of a single modified advantage – although a few include Enhanced Move, too. As with all of the abilities here, you can save space on character sheets by noting only the ability’s name and point cost.

Astral Projection: Jumper (World; Limited Access, Astral Plane, -20%; Projection, Can affect destination, -0%) [80]. Notes: The user’s mind leaves his unconscious body and enters the Astral Plane. His astral form is visible to and can interact with other astral entities. In some settings, he can enter higher planes of existence by making a “physical” journey. The Move and other scores of his astral form depend on the setting. 80 points.

Create Door: Permeation (Everything; Can Carry Objects, Heavy, +100%; Costs Fatigue, 1 FP, -5%; Finite Thickness, 1 foot, -15%; Requires IQ Roll, -10%; Takes Extra Time 1, -10%; Tunnel, +40%) [160]. Notes: Lets the user create a “door” through a barrier up to a foot thick, regardless of composition. To do so, he must concentrate for a second and make an IQ roll. It costs 1 FP to open a door, 1 FP/minute to hold it open. 160 points.

Create Gate: Jumper (World; Extra Carrying Capacity, Extra-Heavy, +50%; Special Movement, Must walk, -10%; Tunnel, +40%) [180]. Notes: Lets the user open a gate between worlds. Use the standard rules for Jumper and the Tunnel enhancement, except that the summoner (and anyone else who wishes to use the gate) must be free to move through the gate – he can’t simply vanish. 180 points.

Create Portal: Warp (Extra Carrying Capacity, Extra-Heavy, +50%; Tunnel, +40%) [190]. Notes: Lets the user create a portal linking two points in space. This is subject to the usual rules for Warp and the Tunnel enhancement. In particular, the user must have visited or be able to see his destination point. 190 points.

Digitization: Jumper (World; Limited Access, Cyberspace, -20%; Naked, -30%; Special Portal, Terminal, -20%) [30]. Notes: By touching a terminal on an information network, the jumper – but not his gear – can enter the net as a stream of data, allowing rapid travel between “wired” locations. To resume material form, he must roll against Area Knowledge (Cyberspace) to locate a terminal, and then Computer Hacking to gain access to it. Digitization only provides transportation. To affect computers in other ways, buy modified Mind Control, Mind Probe, Possession, and so on. 30 points.

Force Surfing: Flight (Low Ceiling, 30 feet, -10%; Planetary, -5%) [34]. Notes: The flyer moves along a planet’s gravitational or magnetic field. He appears to walk on air or glide on a glowing disk of force. He can’t venture more than 10 yards from the planetary surface. 34 points.

Matter Surfing: Flight (Low Ceiling, 5 feet, -25%; Nuisance Effect, -5%) [28]. Notes: The “surfer” travels five feet above the ground on a projected trail of matter (e.g., ice). This is visible and persists for 3d seconds. Attempts to spot or track the traveler succeed automatically until the trail vanishes. 28 points.

Matter Transmission: Affliction 1 (HT; Advantage, Warp, +1,950%; Malediction 2, +150%) [220]. Notes: If the wielder wins a Quick Contest of Will vs. his target’s HT, he may try an immediate IQ roll to teleport the subject with Warp (Extra Carrying Capacity, Extra-Heavy, +50%; Range Limit, Orbital, -5%; Reliable +10, +50%). The +10 for Reliable cancels the -10 for no preparation. The user can send the subject to any place he can see or has visited, subject to his range limit, and can cancel range modifiers by spending his own FP. 220 points.

Reaction Drive: Flight (Newtonian Space Flight, +25%; Nuisance Effect, -5%) [48] + Enhanced Move 11.5 (Space; Newtonian, -50%; Nuisance Effect, -5%) [104]. Notes: A “realistic” rocket. It gives a voyager with Basic Speed 5 a delta-v of 30,720 – enough to escape from and return to an Earthlike planet, with room to spare for travel and maneuvering. A rocket is noisy and visible; the flyer can’t use this ability stealthily. 152 points.

Reactionless Drive: Flight (Nuisance Effect, -5%; Space Flight, +50%) [58] + Enhanced Move 10.5 (Space; Nuisance Effect, -5%) [200]. Notes: A “reactionless” rocket like those seen in space opera. It can do everything that Reaction Drive can . . . and maneuver indefinitely. 258 points. Stardrive: Warp (Blind Only, -50%; Extra Carrying Capacity, Extra-Heavy, +50%; Hyperjump, 1 LY/day, -25%; No Strain, +25%; Reliable +5, +25%; Tracking, +20%) [145]. Notes: A space-opera FTL drive. It lets the user cover a light-year per day, along with anything he can carry. It requires precise coordinates (Reliable cancels the -5 for Blind Only), only works in vacuum, and is useless over short distances. However, it never “burns out,” and can follow other FTL travelers by sensing their “trail.” 145 points.

Tactical Teleport: Warp (Blink, +25%; Extra Carrying Capacity, Extra-Heavy, +50%; No Strain, +25%; Range Limit, 10 yards, -50%; Reliable +10, +50%) [200]. Notes: Supers-style teleportation that lets the teleporter cover short distances – up to 10 yards – safely and reliably, with all of his gear. This requires no preparation; he can even use his ability to evade attacks in combat. 200 points.

The Neutralize advantage on p. B71 is Neutralize (Psi), and just one possible version of the more generic trait below.

This attack lets you neutralize all of your victim’s powers of a given source. Specify this source when you buy the advantage. Possibilities include magic, psi, spirit, and anything else the GM deems susceptible to neutralization. If “super-powers” are a distinct phenomenon with a single source, the GM might allow Neutralize against those, too. To affect powers from more than one source, buy Neutralize multiple times.

To use Neutralize, you must touch the subject. This requires an Attack maneuver in melee combat. On a hit, roll a Quick Contest of Will. Your victim gets a bonus equal to his best Talent with any of the powers affected. For instance, a psi with ESP Talent 4 and Telepathy Talent 2 would resist Neutralize (Psi) at +4.

If you win, you neutralize your victim’s powers for minutes equal to your margin of victory. Should enhancements or super-tech (such as “neutralization manacles”) generate an effect that continuously neutralizes the target, this is the residual duration after shutting off the ability or removing the item. If you lose or tie, there’s no effect – but critical failure on your Will roll cripples this ability for 1d hours.

Once you’ve neutralized a given subject, you can’t affect him again until his powers recover. Multiple attackers can use Neutralize on the same target. Use only the longest duration; their abilities don’t “add” in any way.

Neutralize only deprives the subject of the abilities of the negated powers. It doesn’t affect Talent, powers that don’t originate from the affected source, or advantages that don’t belong to powers (but see Neutralize and Static vs. Non-Powers, below).

In some worlds, those without powers can harness certain power sources. This usually requires special skills. For example, cinematic martial-arts skills (e.g., Blind Fighting and Power Blow) and chi powers both depend on the user’s inner strength, magic spells draw upon energies identical to those tapped by magical powers, and priests channel holy might to perform miracles whether they cast spells or wield divine powers.

For consistency’s sake, Neutralize and Static should affect these capabilities. For instance, Neutralize (Magic) should temporarily cancel out a wizard’s ability to cast spells, while Static (Magic) should work a lot like a “no mana” area. The user doesn’t forget his special skills – they just don’t work.

The GM decides which skills (and advantages) rely on a given source in his game world. The only hard-and-fast rule is that Neutralize and Static shouldn’t interfere with “wild” advantages that aren’t associated with any power source.

These guidelines also apply to artifacts tied to power sources. Examples include items that carry powers bought with gadget limitations (see p. B116), objects imbued with permanent capabilities by enchantment spells (see Magic Items, p. B480) and similar special skills, and superscience devices related to powers (e.g., “psi-tech”). For instance, Neutralize (Magic) would temporarily render a magic sword mundane, while Static (Psi) would block artificial telepathic beacons and natural telepaths equally.

Enhancements that often appear in fiction include Based on HT (suitable for drugs that block biological or psi powers), Extended Duration, and Ranged. Specific options for Neutralize are:

Cosmic: You can neutralize any power, regardless of source. You can only affect one source at a time, but you can attack the same victim repeatedly to affect multiple sources. You still can’t drain Talents, or advantages without power modifiers. Cosmic doesn’t automatically overcome resistance. It provides incredible scope, but your target always gets a chance to resist. +300%.

Derangable: You can choose to either neutralize or Derange (see below) your target when you declare your attack. +10%.

Power Theft: You temporarily acquire the powers you neutralize – including all their enhancements and limitations – for the duration. You can’t use Neutralize again until the “borrowed” powers wear off or you “return” them (a free action on your turn). +200%, or +300% if you don’t gain the stolen powers but may use their point value to boost your own powers temporarily.

Power Theft, Weak: As for Power Theft, but if your subject has multiple powers, you only Neutralize (and steal) the abilities of one of them, determined randomly. If he only has one power but knows multiple abilities, you only Neutralize/steal one ability. If he only has one ability, you get it, but with the Untrainable limitation added. +100%.

Precise: You can neutralize specific powers of the affected source, or even individual abilities. For instance, you could use Neutralize (Psi) to drain Telepathy only, or just telepathic Mind Probe, or everything but Mind Probe. To exclude or target a capability, you must know that your victim has it, and you must declare your intentions before you attack. +20%.

Derange: You only neutralize your victim’s control over his abilities. All affected abilities gain the Uncontrollable limitation (p. B116) for the duration. Your attack counts as “stressful,” and immediately causes the abilities to act in unpredictable ways. -20%.

Interruption: You cannot truly neutralize a psi’s powers, but if you win a Quick Contest of Will, you can negate one instance of them, canceling one psi’s abilities as they affect one specific target. For example, you could force a telepath out of someone’s head or force a teke to drop something. He can try again on his next turn, as a repeated attempt (p. 6). You must touch the psi or the target. If this is combined with Ranged, use the shorter of the distance to the psi or the distance to the effect being disrupted. Note that Neutralize can be used this way without this limitation. -50%.

One Power: You can only neutralize one specific power that stems from a source that has multiple powers associated with it. The most common example is a single psi power (such as ESP or Telepathy). -50%.

One Ability: You can only neutralize one specific ability within one particular power; for instance, just Mind Probe within the Telepathy power or just Innate Attack within the Heat/Fire power. This is incompatible with Precise. -80%.

Use Leech to steal attributes instead of powers. Take Affliction with Negated Advantage to remove specific advantages regardless of their origin. To disrupt a power’s effects on you, get Static.

Neutralize suits anti-powers of all kinds, regardless of source (see Anti-Powers, Powers, p. 20). Any power might be able to neutralize “opposed” powers (see Opposed Powers, Powers, p. 21). In general, a power shouldn’t be able to neutralize itself – but the GM is free to make exceptions. Talent adds to Will in the Quick Contest to neutralize powers, but not to the roll to hit the target.

You have a transparent lens over your eyes that you can open and close like an eyelid. This lets you see normally underwater, and protects your eyes from sand, irritants, etc. Each level of Nictitating Membrane provides your eyes (only) with DR 1 and adds +1 to all HT rolls concerned with eye damage.

Your eyes adapt rapidly to darkness. Each level of this ability (maximum nine levels) allows you to ignore -1 in combat or vision penalties due to darkness, provided there is at least some light.

Example: Night Vision 4 would completely eliminate darkness penalties up to -4, and would reduce a penalty of -7 to only -3.

Regardless of level, Night Vision only works in partial darkness. It has no effect on the -10 for total darkness (for that, get Dark Vision.)

You produce an effect that actively 'jams' one particular sense, making it difficult to detect you and everything in your vicinity. You must specify the affected sense. This can be one of the five human senses or a sensory advantage such as Infravision, Radar, or one particular Detect. Examples include Obscure (Vision) for fog, Obscure (Hearing) for white noise, and Obscure (Radar) for electronic jamming.

Obscure affects a two-yard radius centered on you. Add the Area Effect enhancement to increase this radius. The affected sense is at -1 per level of Obscure to detect anything within your radius. Ten levels will block the sense completely. The boundaries of the zone are easily detected by the affected sense, however; roll at +1 per level.

If you obscure the sense that your opponents are using to target you (usually vision), remember to subtract the sense penalty from any rolls to hit you.

Obscure is a flexible advantage that can represent many fictional abilities – some of which are unobvious by design. When customizing Obscure, the first step is to specify what senses it affects, and how:

Clairsentience: Obscure usually blocks one sense, whether the observer examines the affected area in person or remotely. A supernatural or superscience “anti-power” might specifically prevent all remote sensing without affecting any mundane senses. Obscure (Clairsentience) often has Extended for Detect, Divination, or Para-Radar (+20% each) and Limited, Psi (-20%).

Detect: An effect that actively jams a specialized sensor should have Obscure against the equivalent Detect. For instance, Obscure (Detect Magnetic Fields) would work against magnetic anomaly detectors. Other forms of Obscure might affect supernatural versions of Detect – imagine a demon with Obscure (Detect Evil)!

Divination: Obscure (Divination) is legitimate, and affects all attempts to gather facts from within the area through such means as Information spells and Psychometry. Use Obscure (Clairsentience) to disrupt remote viewing.

Hearing: This might represent a magical stealth spell, white noise, or ultra-tech sound cancellation. Regular hearing, Subsonic Hearing, Ultrasonic Hearing, Sonar, and Vibration Sense are all “related” for the purpose of the Extended enhancement. Obscure (Subsonic Hearing) and (Ultrahearing) suffice to evade geophones and ultrasonic motion detectors, respectively. Discriminatory Hearing, Parabolic Hearing, and so on aren’t unique senses; they merely make hearing more useful. Those who have such traits have no special ability to ignore Obscure.

Scanning Sense: Treat Radar and Imaging Radar as the same sense for the purpose of Obscure. Other Scanning Senses require separate versions of Obscure. These varieties of Obscure nearly always represent jamming of some kind. For the purpose of the Extended enhancement, Ladar is related to all kinds of vision, while Sonar is related to Vibration Sense and all types of hearing. In most settings, Para-Radar is related to Clairsentience and Detect.

Vision: This could be darkness, blinding light, fog, smoke, or a magical blurring spell. Regular vision, Infravision, Ultravision, and Ladar are all “related” for the purpose of the Extended enhancement. Obscure (Infravision) also interferes with heatseeking missiles and infrared motion detectors. Microscopic and Telescopic Vision, Peripheral Vision, etc. aren’t unique senses; they just make vision more useful. Those with such advantages have no special ability to ignore Obscure.

Penalties for Obscure also apply to any form of Telecommunication (p. 81) that uses the same type of signal as the blocked senses, if the sender or receiver is inside the area of effect. Infrared Communication works like Infravision, Laser Communication works like Ladar, Radio works like Radar, and so on. It’s up to the GM whether Telesend works like ParaRadar.

By default, Obscure is a detectable jamming field (e.g., darkness, electronic noise, or white noise) or cloud (anti-laser aerosol, radar-defeating chaff, smoke, etc.) around the user. Without special modifiers, it impedes signals crossing it in either direction. There are two common exceptions to these assumptions:

Stealth Field: A subtle effect that prevents detection of the user and the field itself is standard for magic and psionics, and common for superscience cloaking. This requires Stealthy (+100%). Supernatural versions rarely inconvenience the user, and also have Defensive (+50%). Ultratech devices generally block the user’s sensors, too.

Weapon: Many supers and vehicles shoot beams or projectiles that cause these effects at a distance; e.g., flares for Obscure (Infravision) or smoke bombs for Obscure (Vision). Give such abilities Ranged (+50%). Don’t add Stealthy to anything that’s supposed to work as a decoy or distraction.

Obscure creates an effect within which anyone could hide. A hero who makes only himself less detectable has Chameleon, Invisibility, or Silence.

An Affliction with an enhancement such as Disadvantage (Deafness) or Negated Advantage (Infravision) can knock out someone else’s senses. Combined with Area Effect, Emanation, and Sense-Based, this simulates a deafening noise, blinding flash, etc. better than Obscure.

Those who can block senses with images – physical or mental – should take Illusion.

Obscure suits nearly any power that isn’t completely internal. Most elemental powers can create clouds or fields of their element to block senses (e.g., Heat/Fire power might produce “hot smoke” to impede vision and Infravision), supernatural powers frequently include the capability to hide from related powers (e.g., Obscure (Clairsentience), for Antipsi power), and so on. Talent benefits Power Block attempts (see p. 168) and adds to rolls to hit with Ranged abilities.

Defensive: You are unaffected by your own Obscure ability. +50%.

Extended: Each related sense (Infravision as well as normal vision, Sonar as well as normal hearing, etc.) blocked beyond the first is +20%.

Ranged: You produce your obscuring effect at a distant point rather than around your body. This is a ranged attack with 1/2D -, Max 100, Acc 3, RoF 1, Shots N/A, and Recoil 1. Duration is 10 seconds. You can apply other modifiers to change these statistics. Unlike the usual Ranged enhancement, this modifier lets you use your ability again before its duration has expired (e.g., to simulate multiple smoke grenades); thus, it is more expensive.

Stealthy: Your ability works invisibly, like a magical zone of silence. There is no bonus to detect the boundaries of your area of effect. +100%.

Always On: You cannot turn this ability off. -50%.

Anti-Targeting: Your Obscure does not make you more difficult to perceive, but it does make it harder to target you in combat. Do not subtract your Obscure level from Sense rolls to notice you, but anyone trying to target you in combat using the obscured sense takes a penalty equal to your Obscure level. This is usually combined with Defensive; without it, the affected sense is blocked… for you! -20%.

Limited: You can only block a sense that occurs as part of a power. An entire power source (e.g., magical or psionic) is -20%; a specific power (e.g., ESP or Telepathy) is -40%.

Prerequisites: Blade! and Weapon Master. Each level of this trait gives you +1/die to damage rolls when you make any attack with the Blade! skill. Every level also gives you -2 on your rolls for the purposes of Parrying Heavy Weapons (p. B376).

Advantages: Striking ST 1 (Cosmic, +1/die instead of usual effects, +300%; Limited, Blade! attacks, -40%) [18/level].

Perks: Steel in Hand* [1/level].

* Gives -2 on breakage rolls for any weapon wielded with a particular skill per level.

You are sensitive to omens, and see hidden significance in such things as the way plants grow, the behavior of animals, and even changes in the weather and the sky. Once per day, you may check the omens. This normally requires at least an hour, but if the GM has something in particular he wants to communicate, he may arbitrarily put it in your path. The GM rolls twice, in secret, when you use this ability: once to determine whether you discover the omen, once to see if you interpret it correctly.

Discovery: To detect an omen requires a Sense roll. On a success, you discover the omen; on a critical success, you get +5 on the subsequent interpretation roll. On a failure, you find nothing of oracular significance. On a critical failure, the GM lies - he tells you that you have found an omen, but this is, in reality, a product of your own fears or wishes.

Interpretation: To interpret an omen requires an IQ roll. On a success, the omen is very general; e.g., 'an enemy approaches' or 'a great power, long dormant, is stirring'. On a critical success, the information is more specific: 'you risk the wrath of the king,' 'seek out the mage in the tower,' etc. On a failure, the omen is simply too vague to be useful. On a critical failure, you blatantly misinterpret the omen - possibly in a dangerous manner.

This ability differs from Precognition, which requires no interpretation.

Reading omens – be they hidden wisdom from the gods, signs from the spirit world, or “natural” phenomena in a magical world – is a practice traditionally associated with mysticism. An interesting variant sometimes appears in science fiction, however:

Oracle (Digital): You can analyze “live” data – the Internet, news feeds, etc. – and spot items of hidden mundane significance. Roll against Research skill for discovery and Intelligence Analysis skill for interpretation. To use this ability, you must have access to prodigious quantities of unprocessed data. This trait is especially appropriate for AIs and other Digital Minds. 15 points.

Oracle provides answers to unknown questions… not all of which are about things to come. Use Blessed to get direct answers to specific questions, Precognition to see the future. To spot hidden conspiratorial activity, take Illuminated.

Oracle is ideal for divine, moral, and spirit powers that involve otherworldly guidance. It also suits some interpretations of ESP. Talent influences both the Sense roll to spot omens and the IQ roll to gain insight from them.

Inspired: You’re extremely gifted. Any successful interpretation roll provides you with specific information, and a critical success brings you an unambiguous vision of the truth. +100%.

You can 'zoom in' on a particular sound or area, and can filter out background noise from sounds of interest to you. Each level of Parabolic Hearing doubles the distance at which you can clearly hear any given sound (see Hearing, p358.)

A 'Patron' is an NPC - or even an entire organization - that serves as your advisor, employer, mentor, or protector. An employer must be exceptional to qualify as a Patron, though; a Patron is much more than an ordinary boss!

A Patron with the Highly Accessible enhancement might represent the supernatural ability to call upon a deity or powerful spirit for aid. If so, Special Abilities and Minimal Intervention might also be appropriate. Limitations such as Accessibility, Costs Fatigue, and Preparation Required are reasonable, too, if contacting the Patron involves a spell-like ritual.

The base point cost of a Patron depends on its power. Use the categories below as a guide, but note that some Patrons won't fit neatly into any of them. The GM's word is final.

• A powerful individual (usually built on at least 150% of the PC's starting points) or a fairly powerful organization (assets of at least 1,000 times starting wealth for the world.) 10 points.

• An extremely powerful individual (built on at least twice the PC's starting points) or a powerful organization (assets of at least 10,000 times starting wealth.) Examples: a limited manifestation of a minor god, a billionaire, or a big-city police department. 15 points.

• An ultra-powerful individual (built on as many points as the GM wants!) or a very powerful organization (assets of at least 100,000 times starting wealth.) Examples: a super, a limited manifestation of a major god, or a big city. 20 points.

• An extremely powerful organization (assets of at least 1 million times starting wealth). Examples: a large corporation or a very small nation. 25 points.

• A national government or giant multinational organization (net worth basically incalculable), or a true god who appears personally to intervene on your behalf. 30 points.

Note that the base cost to have a deity as a Patron is comparable to that for a powerful mundane Patron, but divine power requires the Special Abilities enhancement (see below), which will greatly increase the final cost of a divine Patron!

Choose a frequency of appearance, as explained under Frequency of Appearance. If the GM determines that your Patron appears at the start of an adventure, he may design the adventure to include an assignment or aid from the Patron. He may also choose to leave out your Patron, if its appearance would make no sense or disrupt the adventure.

However, if the GM determined that your Patron could have appeared, and you try to contact your Patron during the adventure (for help, advice, etc.), then the contact is likely to be successful and you may receive aid. (Within reason - if you're locked in a dungeon without any means of communication, you won't be contacting anybody.) You will not know whether your Patron is 'available' on a given adventure until you attempt to request aid. As a rule, you should only be able to reach your Patron for help once per adventure.

Remember that a powerful Patron could be helpful without actually intervening! A Chicago hood who can say, “I'm from Big Eddie,” or a crimefighter who can flash a Q-clearance card, may carry some extra weight in a tough spot.

Often, several PCs - perhaps the entire party - share a Patron (they are all agents of the same government, servants of the same cult, etc.) No matter how many characters share a Patron, the cost is not shared; each character must pay full price for the Patron. On the other hand, the GM will make an appearance roll for each character at the start of each adventure - and if the Patron appears for any of them, then it is usually available for all of them. The GM should scale the quality and quantity of the aid provided in proportion to the number of successful appearance rolls.

If your Patron is an army, corporation, feudal lord, etc., you may owe it a Duty. A god or similar Patron may require a stringent code of behavior in return for its aid; see [:core:disadvantages|Self-Imposed Mental Disadvantages]. A Patron might also have powerful foes that are now your foes; this can give you an Enemy. Such factors can cut the effective cost of a Patron significantly, and turn it from a benefit to a considerable liability!

Not every employer is a Patron. If you can depend on your employer to get you out of trouble (at least sometimes), it might really be a Patron. Otherwise, it's just a job. For example, a small police department is a 10-point Patron if, as most do, it takes care of its own. But the U.S. Army, though powerful, is not a likely Patron - at least for an ordinary trooper. You could say, “The Colonel takes care of his men.” But you could just as easily say, “I'm on my own if I get into trouble,” and play a soldier who does not have a Patron.

• A powerful wizard as Patron to warriors (or young wizards) whom he sends to find magical items or slay foes.

• A crime lord as Patron to freelance thieves or assassins.

• A minor deity as Patron to a traveling Righter of Wrongs.

• A local police department as Patron to a private detective. (They might find him annoying at times, but he helps them out, and vice versa.)

• A local ruler (in any world) as Patron to an adventurer.

• A large company as Patron to a troubleshooter or spy.

• A super-crimefighter or politician as Patron to a news reporter.

• Any intelligence organization as occasional Patron to a freelance operative, or full-time Patron to its own agents. (The difference between this and ordinary jobs is that you can't quit…)

You can apply the following modifies after multiplying for frequency of appearance.

The favor of a higher power might manifest indirectly as Luck, Serendipity, or Super Luck. To represent otherworldly knowledge, use Blessed or Oracle.

Only divine and spirit powers are likely to have Patrons as abilities. Talent doesn’t add to appearance rolls, but does add to Influence and reaction rolls made to sway the Patron. This can be extremely useful for Patrons bought with Minimal Intervention.

Equipment: Your Patron supplies useful equipment that you can use for your own purposes, and that you would otherwise have to buy. This enhancement only applies if the equipment is yours once given. A soldier with a military Patron would not pay extra for his weapons, since when he goes off duty, he can't take them along. An adventurer in the employ of a generous noble who hands out useful 'gifts' would pay extra. +50% if the equipment is worth no more than the average starting wealth in the campaign, or +100% if it is worth more than that.

Highly Accessible: You can attempt to contact your Patron at any time - even when you are locked in a dungeon, lost in the desert, etc. This is most appropriate if your Patron is a spirit, a god you can petition via prayer, etc. +50%.

Special Abilities: Your Patron wields power out of proportion to its wealth or point value. +50% if your Patron has extensive social or political power (e.g., the Governor of New York or the Pope), or +100% if your Patron has magical powers in a nonmagical world, possesses equipment from a TL greater than yours, or has unusual reach in time or space (e.g., a super, spirit, or god).

Minimal Intervention: Your Patron is less useful than its power level would suggest. On a successful appearance roll, the GM makes a reaction roll for your Patron to determine whether it actually provides aid; see Requests for Aid (p562). On a Neutral or better reaction, you receive the aid your Patron thinks you need - which may or may not be what you want. This is the classic modifier for gods who have many other minions to aid, and frequently accompanies the Pact limitation. -50%.

Secret: Your Patron works behind the scenes. You do not know who it is and you cannot request aid directly. You might be able to call for help in such a way that the Patron gets the message (GM's decision), but there is no guarantee that the Patron will take action. The only evidence of this kind of Patron is minor incidents and 'lucky breaks.' This may take the form of information, equipment, or even direct aid… but only when it suits the Patron, and always in an untraceable way. A Patron like this often regards its aid as an investment on which it expects some return; therefore, it might not have your best interests at heart! Only the GM knows any of these details. You know nothing other than the fact that you have a Patron. -50%.

Unwilling: You obtained your Patron through coercion (e.g., blackmail). It provides aid only because there is no other choice, and it definitely does not have your best interests at heart! You will eventually make one request too many (GM's judgment - perhaps if the appearance roll comes up 18) and lose the Patron: remove the Patron from your character sheet and lower your point value accordingly. Since a Patron is by definition more powerful than you are, taking an Unwilling Patron is risky. If the Patron can find a way to break your 'hold', it will, and may well become an Enemy! -50%.

You can carry cargo or occupants inside your body! This might be a superficial feature (e.g., a surgically implanted 'flesh pocket' or a natural pouch like that of a kangaroo) or an actual internal compartment. The latter is not just for machines - a zombie might have a colony of spiders or snakes living in its body, for example.

Each level of Payload lets you carry up to Basic Lift/10 lbs. inside you. Those without Injury Tolerance (Homogenous) or the Machine meta-trait should ask the GM's permission before taking more than five levels of Payload. You must allocate your Payload between cargo and occupants when you buy the advantage:

Cargo: 20 lbs. of cargo space is roughly equal to one cubic foot of capacity. A typical car has about 10-20 cubic feet of storage space; a semi-trailer has about 2,400 cf.

Occupants: A human-sized being requires about 200 lbs. of capacity. For others, take average racial weight and increase it by 1/3. An actual cabin requires 10 times that weight. Your defensive advantages (DR, Sealed, etc.) also protect your occupants. If your occupants can control you, buy Controls separately - see Compartmentalized Mind.

Treat your Payload as part of your body, not as encumbrance or carried weight, when calculating Move and using advantages with limited carrying capacity, such as Invisibility, Jumper, and Warp.

Machines that can push or pull large external loads - or pick them up and carry them with arms, cranes, etc. - have Lifting ST, not Payload. Ordinary cars and trucks have Payload, but forklifts, tugboats, and the like should buy Lifting ST to represent their abilities.

Exposed: Your Payload cannot be concealed and is not protected by your defensive advantages. You can apply this to any portion of your Payload. The main use of this limitation is to create motorcycles and similar unenclosed vehicles. -50%.

Penetrating Vision (sometimes called 'X-ray vision') lets you see through solid objects. Each level of this advantage allows you to see through up to six inches of normal matter. You can just barely see the outline of the sustance you are looking through - not enough to impair vision in any way. Penetrating Vision automatically works in conjunction with all your other vision advantages (Infravision, Ultravision, etc.)

No realistic sense would enable the user to receive light from behind a solid barrier, allowing him to see colors and use his other visual capabilities. This violates the laws of physics. Nevertheless, espers, supers, and superscience sensors from comics and space-opera tales often possess exactly this capability.

Penetrating Vision can look through multiple objects with a total thickness no greater than its penetrating power. Distance has its usual effects, but the spacing of the barriers is irrelevant. For instance, Penetrating Vision 1 can look through six 1” walls as easily one 6” wall, and these can be any distance apart – but a large total distance would still give a Vision penalty

To see inside things as opposed to through them, take Clairsentience (p. 44). For realistic X-ray or T-ray vision, use Scanning Sense (p. 72) – not Clairsentience or Penetrating Vision.

Penetrating Vision is reasonable for ESP, and for elemental powers that deal with cinematic radiation. An elemental power that focuses on one particular kind of matter might offer Penetrating Vision with the Specific modifier for that substance. Talent gives no Vision bonus, but adds to comprehension rolls (against IQ or skills) to figure out the relative placement of multiple items and barriers.

Blockable: Some substance completely blocks your vision. Common substances, such as plastic, stone, or wood, are -30%; less common materials, such as brick or asphalt, are -20%; one specific material, such as lead, is -10%.

Specific: Your ability only works through one particular substance. Common materials, such as brick, metal, or wood, are -40%; uncommon materials, such as ice or adobe, are -60%; absurd materials, such as chocolate or silk, are -80%.

You can move through a particular solid material as if it didn’t exist. You do not open a passage behind you; observers just see you “melt” into the surface and disappear. You need Penetrating Vision (p. 74) to see where you’re going. You must still breathe (unless you have Doesn’t Breathe), which limits trips to the length of time you can hold your breath (see Holding Your Breath, p. 351).

Permeation differs from Insubstantiality. You are affected by gravity, and you are limited to normal movement; if you lack Flight or another movement advantage, you must walk at your Basic Move. Furthermore, you can be affected by any attack that can reach you within a solid object. You also remain vulnerable to attacks with the material you can pass through, unless you purchase Damage Resistance to such attacks.

Cost depends on how often you are likely to encounter the material you can permeate in the form of a barrier. For instance, paper might be a “Common” substance, but since walls of paper are uncommon, it is treated as “Rare” for the purpose of Permeation.

Very Common: Earth (including clay, mud, and sand), metal, stone (including brick, concrete, and plaster), wood, and other ubiquitous structural materials. 40 points.

Common: Concrete, plastic, steel, and other specific, common structural materials. 20 points.

Occasional: Glass, ice (including snow), sand, and anything else that a normal person could eventually break or tunnel through using muscle power, as well as somewhat unusual structural materials, such as aluminum and copper. 10 points.

Rare: Bone, flesh, paper, and other materials rarely encountered in large quantities or as barriers. 5 points.

Permeation accounts for the traditional ability of otherwise-tangible nature spirits to pass through mountains, trees, and so on with ease. Supers with elemental powers often possess similar capabilities – as do fiendish fantasy monsters that step out of dungeon walls to eat adventurers!

Permeation is normally associated with a particular class of materials. If the GM wishes, though, he can permit a further class – “Everything” – that lets the user walk through any solid substance. This costs 80 points.

Those who have Injury Tolerance (Diffuse) modified with Infiltration can seep through porous obstacles. Users of Insubstantiality are intangible, and can pass through anything. To burrow through barriers physically, take Tunneling.

Permeation is a typical feature of elemental and nature-spirit powers. It also suits divine powers bestowed by deities associated with the substances it affects. Talent adds to all DX or skill rolls made for movement while using this ability

Can Carry Objects: Normally, you cannot carry anything while moving through matter. This enhancement lets you carry objects, including clothing and armor. If dropped, they “pop” into open space at the point where you entered the material. You cannot leave things inside solid matter! No encumbrance is +10%; Light, +20%; Medium, +50%; Heavy, +100%.

Tunnel: You can leave a tunnel (of about your size) behind you, if you choose. This rearranges the object you are moving though without inflicting damage, and does not work at all on living targets. For an ability that can rip holes in objects and people, see Innate Attack. +40%.

Extended: You can pass through multiple, similar materials. Buy the most expensive one at full price. Each additional, related substance is +20%. For instance, someone with Permeation (Stone) could add Extended, Earth and Metal for +40%.

Meld 1: You can become one with the things you permeate, like a dryad merging with her tree. This works only on discrete objects – a tree (not a forest), a mountain (not a planet), etc. Once melded, you can use your senses from or step out of the object at any point along its interior or exterior surfaces, and can breathe if any part of it is touching air. Take a Ready maneuver to shift viewpoints or exit the object. If the object takes damage, it affects you proportionally; e.g., 10 HP of injury to a 100 HP tree results in a 1 HP wound for a 10 HP man. Being part of something larger than you also blunts Afflictions: add the difference between its SM and yours to your resistance roll. If you have attacks that affect those touching or standing near you, like Emanations, they’re “spread thin” if you merge with a large object: scale down damage in proportion to HP (to 1/10 normal, in the above example), and add the difference between the object’s SM and your own to rolls to resist your Afflictions. You can’t control the items you meld with; get Possession for that. +150%.

Meld 2: As Meld 1, but works even on distributed objects. With Permeation (Earth), you could meld with the ground at your feet to cross the entire planet in the blink of an eye; with Permeation (Wood), you could meld with a forest to traverse it instantly or spy on events within. +300%.

Finite Thickness: You can only pass through a barrier of limited thickness. If you try to move through anything thicker, you penetrate as far as your limit and then run into a solid obstacle. Value depends on thickness: -50% for a thin membrane (like a curtain), -30% for an inch, -15% for a foot, and -5% for the distance you can sprint in a second.

You can always keep your footing, no matter how narrow the walking surface, under normal conditions. This lets you walk along a tightrope, ledge, tree limb, or other anchored surface without having to make a die roll. If the surface is wet, slippery, or unstable, you get +6 on all rolls to keep your feet. In combat, you get +4 to DX and DX-based skill rolls to keep your feet or avoid being knocked down. Finally, you get +1 to Acrobatics, Climbing, and Piloting skills.

You have an unusually wide field of vision. You can see a 180º arc in front of you without turning your head, and have 30º of peripheral vision to either side of that. This gives you a 240º 'arc of vision' for observation and ranged attacks.

If you are playing with a battle map, you can make melee attacks into 'side' ('right' and 'left') hexes as well as 'front' hexes - although a one-handed attack to the opposite side (e.g., attacking your left hex with your right hand) is clumsy and considered a Wild Swing (p388). You still cannot attack a foe directly behind you except with a Wild Swing.

This also helps on defense! If you are attacked from a 'side' hex, you defend at no penalty. Even against attacks from the rear, your active defense is only at -2.

Out of combat, you get +3 to all rolls to detect Shadowing attempts or ambushes from behind, and the GM will always make a Vision roll for you to spot dangers 'behind your back.'

Easy to Hit: Your eyes are on stalks, unusually large, or otherwise more vulnerable to attack. Others can target your eyes from within their arc of vision at only -6 to hit. -20%.

Perks are a good way to handle truly trivial abilities. For instance, just as a robot with a built-in flashlight would buy Accessory, a super could spend a point for the ability to illuminate his immediate vicinity. Piling limitations onto full-fledged advantages is overkill in such situations – imagine trying to build that illumination ability from Control (Light) or Illusion. The GM should forbid perks or uses of perks that do duplicate full-blown advantages, of course.

Any power might (and perhaps should) include perks, but because perks can’t have enhancements or limitations, they don’t receive the power modifier. This means that there’s no discount for the fact that anything that disables the power knocks out the perk. On the other hand, powered heroes can justify perks unavailable to others, and get the benefit of Talent on any die rolls required.

You can move through a particular solid material as if it didn't exist. You do not open a passage behind you; observers just see you 'melt' into the surface and disappear. You need Penetrating Vision to see where you're going. You must still breathe (unless you have Doesn't Breathe), which limits trips to the length of time you can hold your breath (see Holding Your Breath, p351).

Permeation differs from Insubstantiality. You are affected by gravity, and you are limited to normal movement; if you lack Flight or another movement advantage, you must walk at your Basic Move. Furthermore, you can be affected by any attack that can reach you within a solid object. You also remain vulnerable to attacks with the material you can pass through, unless you purchase Damage Resistance to such attacks.

Cost depends on how often you are likely to encounter the material you can permeate in the form of a barrier. For instance, paper might be a 'Common' substance, but since walls of paper are uncommon, it is treated as 'Rare' for the purpose of Permeation.

Very Common: Earth (including clay, mud, and sand), metal, stone (including brick, concrete, and plaster), wood, and other ubiquitous structural materials. 40 points.

Common: Concrete, plastic, steel, and other specific, common structural materials. 20 points.

Occasional: Glass, ice (including snow), sand, and anything else that a normal person could eventually break or tunnel through using muscle power, as well as somewhat unusual structural materials, such as aluminum and copper. 10 points.

Rare: Bone, flesh, paper, and other materials rarely encountered in large quantities or as barriers. 5 points. Permeation accounts for the traditional ability of otherwise-tangible nature spirits to pass through mountains, trees, and so on with ease. Supers with elemental powers often possess similar capabilities – as do fiendish fantasy monsters that step out of dungeon walls to eat adventurers!

Permeation is normally associated with a particular class of materials. If the GM wishes, though, he can permit a further class – “Everything” – that lets the user walk through any solid substance. This costs 80 points.

Those who have Injury Tolerance (Diffuse) modified with Infiltration can seep through porous obstacles. Users of Insubstantiality are intangible, and can pass through anything. To burrow through barriers physically, take Tunneling.

Permeation is a typical feature of elemental and nature-spirit powers. It also suits divine powers bestowed by deities associated with the substances it affects. Talent adds to all DX or skill rolls made for movement while using this ability

Can Carry Objects: Normally, you cannot carry anything while moving through matter. This enhancement lets you carry objects, including clothing and armor. If dropped, they “pop” into open space at the point where you entered the material. You cannot leave things inside solid matter! No encumbrance is +10%; Light, +20%; Medium, +50%; Heavy, +100%.

Tunnel: You can leave a tunnel (of about your size) behind you, if you choose. This rearranges the object you are moving though without inflicting damage, and does not work at all on living targets. For an ability that can rip holes in objects and people, see Innate Attack. +40%.

Extended: You can pass through multiple, similar materials. Buy the most expensive one at full price. Each additional, related substance is +20%. For instance, someone with Permeation (Stone) could add Extended, Earth and Metal for +40%.

Meld 1: You can become one with the things you permeate, like a dryad merging with her tree. This works only on discrete objects – a tree (not a forest), a mountain (not a planet), etc. Once melded, you can use your senses from or step out of the object at any point along its interior or exterior surfaces, and can breathe if any part of it is touching air. Take a Ready maneuver to shift viewpoints or exit the object. If the object takes damage, it affects you proportionally; e.g., 10 HP of injury to a 100 HP tree results in a 1 HP wound for a 10 HP man. Being part of something larger than you also blunts Afflictions: add the difference between its SM and yours to your resistance roll. If you have attacks that affect those touching or standing near you, like Emanations, they’re “spread thin” if you merge with a large object: scale down damage in proportion to HP (to 1/10 normal, in the above example), and add the difference between the object’s SM and your own to rolls to resist your Afflictions. You can’t control the items you meld with; get Possession for that. +150%.

Meld 2: As Meld 1, but works even on distributed objects. With Permeation (Earth), you could meld with the ground at your feet to cross the entire planet in the blink of an eye; with Permeation (Wood), you could meld with a forest to traverse it instantly or spy on events within. +300%.

Finite Thickness: You can only pass through a barrier of limited thickness. If you try to move through anything thicker, you penetrate as far as your limit and then run into a solid obstacle. Value depends on thickness: -50% for a thin membrane (like a curtain), -30% for an inch, -15% for a foot, and -5% for the distance you can sprint in a second.

These abilities alter the user or subject’s body in some beneficial way. They’re among the most powerful of special gifts, and merit close GM scrutiny. Where there are multiple paths to a given effect – e.g., Alternate Form vs. a set of Switchable advantages, Modular Abilities vs. Morph, or Healing vs. Affliction with Advantage, Regeneration – the GM is free to rule that only one option exists in his campaign.

Active Camouflage: Chameleon 3 (Controllable, +20%; Dynamic, +40%; Extended, Infravision, Radar, +40%) [30]. Notes: Lets the user adjust his opacity to radar, infrared, and visible light. He can make himself nearly transparent (+6 to Stealth), highly reflective (+6 to others’ Sense rolls), or anything in between. Movement has no effect on these bonuses. Clothing halves them to +3. 30 points.

Rubber Body: Double-Jointed [15] + Modular Abilities (Cosmic Power, 30 points; All-Out, -25%; Limited, Body Parts Only, -20%; Costs Fatigue, 1 FP/5 points, -15%; Physical, +50%; Requires HT Roll, -10%; Takes Extra Time 3, -30%) [150] + Stretching 5 [30]. Notes: Gives the user an extremely elastic body. He can bend as if Double-Jointed (+5 to climb, break free, etc.) and stretch body parts at +1 SM per second (maximum +5 SM). He can even reshape his body, adding up to 30 points’ worth of body parts; see Switchable Body Parts (p. 81). It takes eight seconds and a HT roll to add a body part, and costs 1 FP per 5 points the advantage is worth. The user is defenseless while reshaping himself. 195 points.

Shape-Stealing: Morph (Cannot Memorize Forms, -50%; Mass Conservation, -20%; Needs Sample, Touch, -5%; Unlimited, +50%) [75]. Notes: A shapeshifter with this ability can assume any form of roughly his mass, provided its racial template is worth no more than his own. He must touch the person or object he wishes to duplicate for the 10 seconds it takes him to transform – he can’t shapeshift on sight or from memory. 75 points.

Body of Swarm: Injury Tolerance (Diffuse; Swarm, +80%; Switchable, +10%) [190]. Notes: Lets the user become a swarm of insects by taking a Ready maneuver. His “body” is cohesive enough to affect the world normally but diffuse for injury purposes. Once in swarm form, a Concentrate maneuver lets him scatter, effectively becoming insubstantial (see Injury Tolerance, p. 52). Regaining cohesion takes a second Concentrate maneuver; returning to ordinary flesh calls for a further Ready maneuver. 190 points.

Elemental Form: Alternate Form (Elemental Meta-Trait; Absorptive Change, No Encumbrance, +5%; Active Change, +20%) [Variable]. Notes: The user can voluntarily adopt one of the elemental meta-traits, absorbing equipment that weighs no more than Basic Lift. He can act during the transformation, but only gains the benefits of his metatrait after 10 seconds. Cost is 19 points plus 90% of the price of the meta-trait, rounded up. 25 points (Fire), 52 points (Air), 109 points (Ice), 145 points (Stone), or 177 points (Earth, Metal, or Water).

Spirit Form: Insubstantiality (Affect Substantial, +100%; Requires Will Roll, -5%) [156] + Invisibility (Accessibility, Only when insubstantial, -10%; Substantial Only, -10%) [32] + Doesn’t Breathe, Doesn’t Eat or Drink, Doesn’t Sleep, and Immunity to Metabolic Hazards (all with Accessibility, Only when insubstantial, -10%) [72]. Notes: Lets the user become an invisible, immaterial spirit in the material world. This requires a Ready maneuver and a Will roll. He requires neither rest nor sustenance in this form. He can use magic and psi on material targets, but must turn off his ability (rendering him vulnerable to suffocation, poison, etc., unlike a materialized spirit) to interact physically. 260 points.

Transparent Body: Invisibility (Affects Machines, +50%; Fringe, -10%; Switchable, +10%) [60]. Notes: The user can alter his body’s composition to become transparent. The only way to spot him is to notice the slight distortion when he moves (a Vision roll at -6). Sensors are no more effective than the naked eye, unless they detect something other than electromagnetic radiation (e.g., gravity waves, life, or vibrations). 60 points.

Healing Drug: Healing (Affects Self, +50%; Based on HT, +20%; Blood Agent, -40%; Injuries Only, -20%; Onset, 1 minute, -10%) [30]. Notes: The user secretes a drug that restores lost HP to anyone who swallows or is injected with it (including himself). After a minute, roll against the subject’s HT. Every point by which he succeeds restores 2 HP but costs him 1 FP. Once he’s at full HP, there’s no further HP gain or FP loss. The user only rolls against HT or pays FP if he’s also the recipient. 30 points.

Laying On Hands: Healing (Capped, 6 FP, -15%; Faith Healing, +20%; Limited Use, 1/day, -40%) [20]. Notes: A holy gift of healing. The healer can spend up to 6 FP per day to heal injury (up to 12 HP) or cure disease (up to -3 on his roll) on anyone his gods deem worthy. He must touch the patient. 20 points.

Rejuvenation: Healing (Capped, 10 FP, -5%; Cure Affliction, +60%; Reduced Fatigue Cost 10, +200%; Reliable +5, +25%; Xenohealing, Anything Alive, +80%) [138]. Notes: Miraculous healing – like divine intervention or cinematic nanotech – that repairs nearly any harm to anyone. Each application heals 20 HP or cures a disease or Affliction that gives up to -5 on the healing roll. The user rolls at IQ+5 minus normal skill penalties, but needn’t pay FP. 138 points.

Resurrection: Affliction 1 (HT; Advantages, see below, +2,250%; Contact Agent, -30%; Melee Attack, Reach C, Cannot Parry, -35%) [229]. Notes: Brings the dead back to life! The healer must touch the subject’s skin, whereupon the patient gets a HT roll. Each point of success grants a minute of Unkillable 1 and Regeneration (Very Fast), both with Cosmic, Works on the dead (+50%). Thus, if he’s above -10×HP, he regains 60 HP per minute. If he heals to above -HP, he returns to life. To keep this ability balanced, “Cosmic, Works on the dead” means it only works on the dead – not injured living people – and gives one try, ever. If the subject fails his HT roll or regains too few HP to revive, he’s dead for good. 229 points.

Universal Antibodies: Healing (Affects Self, +50%; Based on HT, +20%; Blood Agent, -40%; Disease Only, -40%; Onset, 1 hour, -20%; Reliable +6, +30%) [30]. Notes: The healer produces a broad-spectrum anti-microbial drug. An hour after swallowing it or receiving it via injection, an ill subject (who can be the healer) gets a roll at HT+6 minus the usual penalty to cure the disease. Success means he’s cured, but must pay FP equal to twice the HT penalty. The user only rolls or pays FP if he’s also the patient. 30 points.

You have an unusual rapport with growing things. On encountering a plant, the GM will roll against your IQ. On a success, he will give you a general sense of its health and whether it is natural or supernatural in origin. Furthermore, this advantage functions as Empathy with respect to sentient plants, and allows you to use your Influence skills on such entities, which will usually ensure a positive reaction.

This ability frequently accompanies some level of Green Thumb (see Talent), and often Sense of Duty (Plants) or Vow (Use plant material only if gathered without severe injury to the plant).

You can move your consciousness from body to body. In theory, you could live forever this way, moving from dying bodies to healthy ones. However, you cannot survive outside a living host. Should your current body die, you will die! Thus, you must keep your current host alive… at least until you can find a replacement.

To possess a new host, you must concentrate for one second and physically touch him. Attempts to possess your own Puppet succeed automatically. In all other cases, roll a Quick Contest: your IQ vs. the subject's Will. Your victim resists at +5 if he is in combat with you or otherwise wary of you, so it is best to be subtle.

If you lose or tie, you are mentally stunned for 1d seconds. In addition, you may never attempt to possess that subject again - he is 'immune' to you.

If you win, you take over your victim's body, completely suppressing his personality. Your previous host regains control of his body (if sentient) after 1d seconds of mental stun, and 'comes to' with no memory of the possession.

You gain your new host's ST, DX, and HT (and secondary characteristics calculated from these scores), as well as his physical advantages and disadvantages. You keep your own IQ, Perception, and Will, and all of your mental traits. Your social traits may apply, depending on the laws and values of your society.

Skills are a special case. Your IQ-, Perception-, and Will-based skills are unchanged. Other skills remain at the same relative skill level. For instance, if you have Acrobatics at DX+3, then you would have Acrobatics-12 in a DX 9 body and Acrobatics-14 in a DX 11 body.

If you occupy a sentient host, you have sufficient access to his memories for the first few hours of the takeover to learn his name and daily routine, but not enough to learn IQ-based skills. To recall a specific fact from the host's memories, you must roll vs. IQ, at -1 per hour since the takeover. Only one attempt is allowed for any given memory!

If you occupy a host for a long time, or hop between multiple bodies, the GM is free to adjust your point value to reflect the most expensive body you regularly occupy.

With suitable modifiers, Possession can represent diverse abilities seen in speculative fiction. Note that the Digital, Magical, Parasitic, Spiritual, and Telepathic limitations are mutually exclusive.

Possession can represent any ability to “take over” people or objects. A few notes to supplement those above:

Magical Possession: Some unpleasant horror and fantasy monsters use magic to take over unwary victims… who inevitably turn on their companions. This calls for the Magical special limitation (-10%), which is identical to the Magical power modifier. Some of these creatures jump from body to body, but most stay in their own body and “use” their victims remotely via Telecontrol (+50% or +100%).

Parasitic Possession: Body-snatching aliens are a staple of science fiction. All such beings have the Parasitic limitation (-60%); more “realistic” ones also have Specialized. Some terrifying creatures have Assimilation (+10%), too – possibly with Full Memory Access (+10%). With access to the skills of all previous victims, they’re formidable foes. It’s equally creepy when the host exhibits the invader’s mannerisms but none of his own. For that, use No Memory Access (-10%) instead.

Psionic Possession: Telepaths capable of Possession require the Telepathic power modifier (-10%). Most fictional psis don’t move from body to body, but manipulate victims remotely via Telecontrol (+50% or +100%). A few do swap bodies using Mind Swap (+10%). An adept telepath who can do both needs Mind Swap, Telecontrol, and Selectivity (+10%).

Spiritual Possession: Demons, loas, and other spirits in folklore can possess mortals. This calls for Spiritual (-20%). Spiritual isn’t the same as the Spirit power modifier – it’s about being a spirit, not controlling spirits – and it’s rare for both to apply. Few spirits have any power modifier on their Possession. Weak spirits that can “ride” only a few specific subjects have Puppet Only (-30%). Powerful ones that can create new Puppets have Chronic (+20%) instead. The GM may let those without the Spirit meta-trait take Spiritual if they have Insubstantiality or a trait modified with Projection, and are subject to countermeasures equivalent to exorcism. The GM may also let those with Spiritual possess inanimate objects (e.g., statues), which resist with HT – although this is only useful if the possessor has Telekinesis with Animation to animate his new vessel.

Technological Possession: There’s no unique type of superscience Possession. Digital (-40%) works for Digital Minds that can possess computers; Chronic (+20%) is extremely common in this case, and represents rewriting the target’s software. Those who can “teleoperate” others through surgical implants should take Telecontrol (+50%), Mindlink Required (-40%), and No Memory Access (-10%), and must have Mindlink with the Telecommunication limitation.

The ability to command the subject without taking over his body is Mind Control – or Dominance, if it results in permanent Allies.

Possession is appropriate for magical and psionic powers, obviously. Nature powers, especially animal-control powers, might also include it – nearly always with Specialized. Talent affects all IQ rolls to use Possession, including rolls to recall the host’s skills.

Assimilation: When you enter a new body, you may choose to 'forget' any of your current skills and use the points this frees up - and any unspent points - to learn ST-, DX-, or HT-based skills known by the host, at up to (host's level)-1. For instance, if you do not know Acrobatics, but your host knows it at DX+3, you can pick it up at DX+2… if you have enough points. Skills forgotten in order to learn new skills are gone. Skills learned from your host will move from body to body with you. +10%.

Chronic: When you exit a host, you can leave a 'back door' that lets you possess him again without a Quick Contest. This lets you buy your former host as a Puppet. You can only use this enhancement if you have enough unspent points to buy a Puppet at the time you leave your host. +20%.

Mind Swap: Your host's mind moves into your previous body instead of being suppressed - in effect, you 'trade places.' +10%.

Telecontrol: You remotely control your new host as if he were a puppet, leaving your original body in a trance. You may choose to return to your body at any time, and must do so if your host falls unconscious or dies (but not if he sleeps). As a result, you do not die if your host dies. +50%.

Full Memory Access: You can freely access the memories of a sentient host at any time. To recall a specific fact from the subject’s memories requires a straight IQ roll, at no penalty for the time since takeover. Furthermore, if you also have Assimilation, you can learn the victim’s IQ-, Will-, and Perception-based skills. +10%.

Telecontrol 2: As Telecontrol, but your body remains conscious and able to act. You can only exercise fine control over one body at a time, though. State whether you’re prioritizing your body or your victim’s (in combat, do this at the start of each turn). All actions taken by the lower-priority body – including attack, defense, and Sense rolls – are at -4. This is incompatible with Parasitic and Spiritual, which assume that you and your victim are merged in a single body. If you have Compartmentalized Mind, you don’t need this modifier, as some compartments can possess victims while others control your body. Without Telesend, though, the “home” and “away” compartments won’t be in communication. +100%.

Digital: This limitation is only available to Digital Minds. You take over computers, not living bodies. The target system must be connected to your current host computer via a network, and you must have complete access to it - voluntary or otherwise (see Computer Hacking). The target computer's hardware must be complex enough to run your computer program; in general, its Complexity must be at least half your IQ (round up). You can also take over a computer using a copy of yourself while leaving the original intact! However, unless you have the Digital version of Duplication, any system you take over this way becomes an independent NPC that thinks it is you. This can be good or bad - the duplicate could become any type of Associated NPC. -40%.

Magical: Your advantage is an innate magical talent. If the subject is protected by a spell that repels hostile magic, you must win a Quick Contest of your IQ vs. that spell before you can make a possession attempt. If your victim has Magic Resistance, it subtracts from your IQ and adds to his Will during the actual possession attempt. -10%.

Mindlink Required: You can only possess someone with whom you have a Mindlink. If the link is ever jammed, out of range, etc., the possession ends. If the Mindlink has the Telecommunication limitation, Mindlink Required can represent control via an implant, telepresence, or similar technology. -40%.

No Memory Access: You have no access to your host's memories. -10%.

Parasitic: You enter your host's body physically. You must have Permeation (Flesh) to do this, unless your host has sufficient Payload to contain you - and your victim must have a higher Size modifier than you. After entering your victim's body, you may attempt to possess him. He resists with the higher of HT or Will. You aren't forced out if you lose, but he is 'immune' to you, so you need to find another host soon. While you are in someone else's body, he (if he is still uncontrolled) or his friends might be able to use technological means to detect you - and possibly remove you. Attacks that penetrate or ignore your host's DR can injure you, but his HP acts as extra DR for this purpose. If you are microbial, you should purchase Injury Tolerance (Diffuse), which will protect you. The host nourishes you, and may have to eat extra food as a result. You can choose to leave at any time, the same way you entered. You may also temporarily release your host while continuing occupation. If you do, you will have to win a new Quick Contest to regain control. -60%.

Poor Control: You have difficulty getting used to your new bodies. You suffer a flat penalty to Acting (to impersonate the subject). You also receive a penalty to every ST-, DX-, and HT-based roll you make (with the exception of passive rolls, such as resistance or staying conscious) while possessing someone, and you get half that penalty (round down) to every active defense. This cannot be combined with Digital or Cybernetic Only, unless mobile robots are the most common forms of computer in the setting. For penalties that can be negated with eight hours of practice: -5% for a -1 penalty; -10% for -2; -15% for -4; and -20% for -8. If it takes you 40 hours to overcome these penalties, double the value of the limitation. If no amount of practice will negate the familiarity penalty, triple the value.

Puppet Only: You may possess your own Puppets automatically, but you cannot possess anyone else. -30%.

Spiritual: You must have the Spirit meta-trait to take this limitation. Your spirit body merges with and occupies the body of your host. It remains insubstantial during the possession, traveling inside the host but otherwise inaccessible to you and effectively mindless. It can be injured as detailed under Parasitic, but only by attacks that affect insubstantial things. A genuine exorcist can cast you out by winning a Quick Contest of his exorcism ability vs. your Will. You cannot return to a body you have been cast out of for at least 24 hours. You may choose to release your host at any time. If you are exorcised or leave voluntarily, the host recovers after 1d seconds of mental stun. -20%.

Telepathic: Your ability is part of the Telepathy psi power. -10%.

Specialized: You can only possess certain hosts. The default is “anything alive.” All Carbon-Based Life is -10%; All Earthly Life is -20%; Animals Only is -25%; All Mammals, All Reptiles, etc., is -30%; and Dogs Only, Humans Only, Martians Only, etc., is -40%.

A deity - god, demon lord, great spirit, cosmic power, etc. - has empowered you to cast 'clerical' spells. Add your Power Investiture to your IQ when you learn spells granted by the deity who bestowed this advantage. For instance, IQ 12 and Power Investiture 2 (Thor) would let you learn spells granted by the god Thor (and only Thor) as if you had IQ 14.

You may only learn clerical spells from a fixed list set by your deity, who may even dictate which specific spells you learn. The GM determines this list and takes on the role of your deity when you wish to learn new spells. However, because you are channeling divine will as opposed to studying magic, clerical spells do not have prerequisites.

In general, the more Power Investiture you have, the “holier” you are. The maximum level of Power Investiture depends on your deity, as determined by the GM. Minor deities who have a limited ability to transfer power to their chosen, or a small range of possible spell effects, might grant only one level, while major deities might be more generous.

Note that Power Investiture is a measure of your bond with your deity, while Clerical Investment and Religious Rank measure social power. These need not be related. Power Investiture might be restricted to high-ranking clerics… but a deity can grant power to anyone it wants (possibly to the chagrin of the church!).

In some cases, you can add or increase Power Investiture in play. What this entails depends on the deity. To gain, keep, or improve Power Investiture, you nearly always have to take and adhere to one or more of the traits listed under Self-imposed Mental Disadvantages. If you break these vows, you will lose some or all of your powers - perhaps until you have made proper penance, perhaps permanently. In effect, Power Investiture comes with a built-in Pact limitation; do not apply this modifier again.

You may also need to meet certain physical requirements. Some deities only empower men, women, eunuchs, virgins… the GM should be creative. Should you lose a special requirement (such as virginity), your Power Investiture may be diminished or lost, reducing your point value accordingly. You can have both Magery and Power Investiture (unless your deity forbids this), but Magery does not improve clerical spells and Power Investiture does not aid magical spells. The clerical and magical versions of a given spell are entirely different spells, and clerical spells never count as prerequisites for magical spells. If you know both versions of a spell, they do not affect one another.

Power Investiture is one possible way to handle “holy powers.” It is most appropriate in settings where priests are divinely inspired wizards. For other views of divine gifts, see Blessed and True Faith.

This is a not a single trait, but a different advantage for each psionic power. It is normally restricted to four levels. It adds +1 per level to every skill in the appropriate power. If you have it, at any level, you may also spend earned character points to learn new abilities of that power.

The following power talents are available in most campaigns.

Anti-Psi Talent: Raises your Anti-Psi skills and lets you learn further Anti-Psi abilities.

Astral Projection Talent: Raises your Astral Projection skills and lets you learn further Astral Projection abilities.

Ergokinesis Talent: Raises your Ergokinesis skills and lets you learn further Ergokinesis abilities.

ESP Talent: Raises your ESP skills and lets you learn further ESP abilities.

Probability Alteration Talent (or Micro-PK Talent): Raises your Probability Alteration skills and lets you learn further Probability Alteration abilities.

Psychic Healing Talent: Raises your Psychic Healing skills and lets you learn further Psychic Healing abilities.

Psychic Vampirism Talent: Raises your Psychic Vampirism skills and lets you learn further Psychic Vampirism abilities.

Psychokinesis Talent: Raises your Psychokinesis skills and lets you learn further Psychokinesis abilities.

Telepathy Talent: Raises your Telepathy skills and lets you learn further Telepathy abilities.

Teleportation Talent: Raises your Teleportation skills and lets you learn further Teleportation abilities.

You receive glimpses of future events. You cannot control the content of these flashes - you just know that something interesting or important might happen, at some unspecified future date. You might learn this through visions, voices, or “sudden knowledge.” A vivid premonition of a terrible event might even require a Fright Check!

Precognition only gives information that your “future self” could learn and that would matter to you. For instance, if you're in New York, you are unlikely to have a premonition about a random murder in Los Angeles. But if the victim was a friend, or if the killing was important enough to make national news, you might “flash” on it.

Nothing about the future is certain, though. Even if the GM has made up his mind, he could reconsider… although something related to the premonition should still happen. In most settings, predicted events will occur unless you take specific action to prevent them. (But the GM is free to rule that the future is immutable in his setting!)

Whenever the GM feels a premonition would be appropriate, he will secretly make an IQ roll for you - usually during an encounter with a person or object. For instance, meeting someone with an important event in his future might set off a premonition related to that event, especially if it would affect you in some way. Similarly, seeing a picture of a place could set off a vision involving that location.

A deliberate attempt to use Precognition requires 10 minutes of concentration, 2 FP, and an IQ roll at -8. You can attempt to read your own future, or that of another person. To deliberately read the future of someone else, you must be able to touch him.

Precognition is normally limited to “seeing” into the near future - perhaps a week or so. At the GM's option, however, a critical success or a very important event might result in visions from much further in the future.

Note that Precognition includes Danger Sense - do not take both.

Prophets, soothsayers, fortunetellers, and others who can see the future appear in the folklore of every culture, but there’s little consensus on how their abilities work. The GM should answer the following questions before letting PCs take Precognition:

1. How often do premonitions occur? Precognition could work constantly but subtly, shepherding a hero through life. On the other hand, it might only work during encounters with people, places, or things of great importance, such as individuals with a Destiny (p. B48), in which case the GM must determine whether pictures and second-hand accounts are enough to trigger visions. 2. How far ahead can Precognition see? Premonitions might foreshadow momentous events weeks, months, or years away, if it serves the purposes of drama. Grittier tales portray Precognition as more quantified and less forgiving. If the GM prefers, he can roll whenever the user has an encounter that might trigger a vision… but at a penalty found by consulting Long-Distance Modifiers and reading “miles” as “weeks.”

3. Is the future mutable? It’s more fun for most players if the future seen by divinatory gifts is one possible future, subject to change at the heroes’ hands. Still, the GM should not make the future so mutable that this ability is a waste of points. Precognition should always reveal some grain of inevitable truth, particularly when a Destiny is involved.

No matter what the answers are, the visions the GM describes should be somewhat vague. Except on a critical success, Precognition never supplies “hard facts” like stock quotes and winning lottery numbers.

Finally, note that Precognition assumes that the GM does some advanced planning – if only notes on scrap paper. It’s neither useful nor appropriate for a completely ad-lib game where even the GM doesn’t know what’s going to happen next!

Those granted answers to specific questions by a Higher Power are Blessed (p. 43), while the gift of seeing random signs – not always about the future – is Oracle (p. 65). To experience visions from the past, take Psychometry (p. 69). Remember that this trait includes Danger Sense (p. 46). There’s no need to buy both.

Precognition is traditionally an ESP or magical ability. It could also belong to a divine or spirit power, if a supernatural entity mediates the premonitions. Any power that includes Jumper (Time) might incorporate Precognition as a “navigational aid.”

What kinds of events trigger Precognition, and how it manifests, depend on its source. In particular, gods and spirits tend to have agendas, and may impart knowledge in disturbing ways – such as voices in the head – that make the recipient look like a madman.

Talent influences all IQ rolls to use this ability, actively or passively.

Directed: When you deliberately use your ability, you may opt to focus on a specific event involving the subject of your attempt (yourself or someone else). Name the event – e.g., “The battle with the Dark Lord” – before you roll. On a success, you discover the most likely outcome. Failure means you learn nothing, and critical failure “blacks out” the event in all future premonitions. Passive use is unchanged. Directed is mutually exclusive with One Event. +100%

Can't See Own Death: Your Precognition cannot detect people or events that the GM believes have a high probability of causing your death. Your ability does not include Danger Sense. -60%.

Dreaming: You only have visions when you dream. This normally takes a full night’s sleep; Less Sleep is useful here. If you undercut your sleeping by one hour, you only have a 5-in-6 chance of dreaming a vision; losing two hours reduces this to 4-in-6, and so on. This is often combined with Passive Only. If not, you can set yourself to have a deliberate vision, at the usual skill penalties, and recover the FP by the time you awaken. Your ability does not include Danger Sense. -70%, or -20% if combined with Active Only or Can’t See Own Death.

ESP: Your ability is part of the ESP psi power (see p. 255). -10%.

One Event: Your ability works only for a particular type of event: events involving you personally (if you scanned another, you would only see a significant event if you were involved); disasters; events related to death; events related to love, etc. This limitation is mutually exclusive with Can't See Own Death. -40%.

Active Only: You can only use your gift deliberately – you never receive spontaneous visions. Your ability doesn’t include Danger Sense. This is mutually exclusive with Can’t See Own Death. -60%.

Passive Only: You can never use your gift deliberately. This is mutually exclusive with Active Only and Directed. -20%.

Every character has a “native pressure.” For ordinary humans, this is the pressure of Earth's atmosphere (“1 atmosphere”). A native pressure other than 1 atmosphere is a 0-point feature, but if you can survive for a prolonged period of time at a wide range of pressures, you have an advantage. This trait comes in three levels:

Pressure Support 1: You can survive at pressures between your native pressure and 10 times that. (This would enable a human to survive on most of Earth's continental shelves.) 5 points.

Pressure Support 2: You can withstand pressures between your native pressure and 100 times that. (This would enable a human to survive anywhere in Earth's oceans, save the deepest trenches.) 10 points.

Pressure Support 3: You are immune to the effects of high pressure. 15 points.

Pressure Support lets your body stay at a constant internal pressure with respect to a constant and uniform external pressure. This protects against attacks that manipulate ambient pressure or crush the entire body, but provides no defense against localized or transient pressure changes. In particular, Pressure Support does not reduce or prevent damage from crushing attacks or explosions of any kind.

Those with Pressure Support often have the Sealed advantage, but this is not required.

One of your ranged senses is protected against overload. It rapidly adapts to the most intense of stimuli, allowing you to function normally after a maximum of two seconds of impairment. You will never suffer permanent damage to that sense as a result of excessive sensory input, and you get +5 to rolls to resist temporary damage and Sense-Based attacks targeting that sense.

Protected Senses cost 5 points apiece. Protected Vision resists glare and eye damage from lasers, and lets Dark Vision, Infravision, and Night Vision adjust instantly from bright light to darkness. Protected Hearing protects against loud noises. Protected Taste/Smell filters out strong odors and tastes (but not toxins). The GM may permit other Protected Senses (Detect, Scanning Sense, etc.), with suitable justification.

Remember that this trait protects against sensory overload and Sense-Based attacks, not physical damage. For instance, Protected Vision helps against bright light, but not a splinter in the eye.

The GM may permit a variant ability in campaigns that feature powers:

Protected Power: Your power is protected against direct attacks. It gets +5 to resist Neutralize attempts, and you roll at +5 when you use it “burn through” Static with the Resistible limitation. This doesn’t provide Protected Sense for the power’s sensory abilities; it only protects the power itself. 5 points/power.

For protection against chemicals in the eyes, inhaled gas, etc., take Doesn’t Breathe, Resistant, Sealed, and similar physical defenses. To armor the eyes, use Nictitating Membrane.

Protected Senses are often part of elemental powers – Protected Vision for Darkness or Light power, Protected Hearing for Sound/Vibration power, and so on. Biological and chi-based body-control powers sometimes grant this advantage by letting the user adapt his body. Any power might include Protected Power.

Talent adds to Power Block attempts.

You are a psionic “null.” Psionic abilities cannot directly affect you or anything you are carrying or wearing. For instance, a telekinetic could throw a rock at you, but he could not levitate you or grab a sword from your hand.

Area Effect: You emit static in an area centered on you. The first level of Area Effect extends your static to everything within one yard. Each level after the first doubles this radius as usual; see Area Effect. +50%/level.

Switchable: You can switch this advantage off in order to allow friendly psis to affect you or operate within your area of effect. +100%.

Tiring: Anyone attempting to use a psionic ability into or through your static immediately loses 1 FP (1d FP on a critical failure), in addition to any other effects. +50%.

One Power: Your static only affects the abilities of a single power, such as Psi Static (One Power, Telepathy). With GM permission, you may possess the abilities of other psionic powers. -50%.

Resistible: Your ability is not absolute. A psi can “burn” through your static and affect those protected by it by winning a Quick Contest of Will with you. If the attacking psi ability already requires a Quick Contest, the attacker rolls only once but the target gets +5 to resist. -50%.

You can sense the history of a place or inanimate object - its use, its user's personality, etc. This is usually a supernatural gift of some sort (such as psi), but it could also represent a technological “time-scanning” power that can see the past.

To use Psychometry, you must touch the subject item or location, concentrate for one second, and make an IQ roll. This roll is at no penalty for an event that occurred the same day, -1 for one that occurred up to 10 days ago, -2 if up to 100 days ago, -3 if up to 3 years ago, -4 if up to 30 years ago, -5 if up to 300 years ago, and so on. At the GM's option, you might notice very strong “vibes” on an IQ-4 roll, even if you aren't concentrating.

On a success, you receive the general sense of emotions and events tied to the object or place… if it is linked to emotionally charged events (an uneventful history might leave no impressions at all). This is not always a good thing - a terrifying impression might require a Fright Check! On a critical success, you experience an actual vision. No matter how well you roll, you cannot detect magic, spirits, etc. Still, a magic item, ghostly haunt, or ritual site is likely to have an emotionally charged history, giving strong impressions.

On a failure, you receive no impressions at all, and cannot attempt to read that object or place again for 24 hours.

Visions: In addition to the emotions and sense of events, you receive flashes of related visions. Though not always clear or straightforward, they do offer you visual references. A critical success provides improved visions, as for Immersive. +50%.

ESP: Your ability is part of the ESP psi power. -10%.

Prerequisites: Possession and either Ally or Dependent

A Puppet is an Ally or Dependent who cannot resist your Possession advantage. When you use Possession on him, you succeed automatically! This may be due to his nature or some special knowledge you have: a curse, his true name, the key to his mind, etc.

A Puppet will always have IQ 0, or owe you a Duty, or be Reprogrammable. If he has a Duty, it must be Involuntary, and its frequency must be identical to the Puppet's own frequency of appearance as an Ally or Dependent.

Each Puppet costs 5 points. You can buy an entire group of related Allies as Puppets for 10 points. These costs are for the Puppet advantage only; you must pay for your Ally or Dependent separately. It is common but not mandatory for such Allies to have the Minion enhancement or the Unwilling limitation.

Prerequisites: HT 12+ and Fit; or HT 11+ and Very Fit.

As long as you maintain a daily fitness regimen, you get +2 DR per level (you may have no more levels of this trait than equal to half your HT) against firearms and explosives. This requires that you spend at least one hour each day doing calisthenics, aerobic exercise, and so on, to stay in top physical shape (effectively Compulsive Exercising (6) [-10]). Your skin isn’t any tougher or stranger looking; if you do get shot and your DR makes the difference, it just looks like a graze or miss.

Advantages: Damage Resistance 2 (Force Field, +20%; Limited, Firearms/Explosives only, -40%; No Signature, +20%; Nuisance Effect, Daily fitness regimen, -10%) [9/level]. Adding “No Signature” to DR hides the force-field effect as well as allowing potentially straight shots to seem nothing more than a graze.

Prerequisites: Guns (any specialty) at 18+, or Gun! at 16+.

You can use a firearm that has RoF 2+ to perform a Rapid Strike (p. B370) at full skill, allowing you to target two different beings. You must specialize by shooting skill. This means shooters with Gun! can use this power-up for any firearm they possess.

Techniques: Quick-Shot (A) Skill-0 [6] without Gunslinger, or [3] with it.

Prerequisites: Combat skill at 20+, and either Trained by a Master or Weapon Master.

When you perform a Move and Attack maneuver (p. B366) in melee combat, you use your full skill and ignore the skill cap of 9. You also ignore the -2 for doing more than one thing at once, can make any active defense, can retreat, can use Rapid Strike (p. B370), and can use either Acrobatics or Jumping as part of your move. This takes its toll; each use of this power-up requires 1 FP. Quicksilver Strike works with Blade!, though the GM may allow it for other skills if desired.

Perks: Unique Technique (Quicksilver Strike) [1]. Techniques: Quicksilver Strike (Blade!) (H) Skill+0 [11].

* You may optionally take this as a power-up that works for all combat skills, but the cost becomes 34 points. “Greater Quicksilver Strike” makes a deadly and highly mobile warrior!

You have access to the memories of your direct genetic ancestors (or earlier software generations, for Digital Minds). This ability comes in two forms:

Racial Memory (Passive): Your talent is vague and totally passive. The GM secretly makes an IQ roll for you in any situation that your ancestors might have encountered. On a success, you get a feeling of deja vu about the situation. It is up to you to interpret this. A critical success gives a vivid replay of ancient ancestral memories. On a failure, nothing happens. A critical failure results in a wrong impression. 15 points.

Racial Memory (Active): You may use this advantage actively. If you want to know something, the GM first determines whether or not your ancestors knew the answer. Then he rolls against your IQ to see if you can gain access to the information. If your ancestors didn't have the answer and the roll succeeds, you will know that. On a critical failure, you will believe your ancestors didn't know, even if they really did. This requires one turn of absolute concentration (the GM may require more elaborate preparations to recall very ancient memories). 40 points.

Your cells or circuits are resistant to radiation. The cost of this advantage depends on the divisor of the effective dose of radiation you receive - after dividing by the Protection Factor (PF) of artificial protection such as armor.

(see Wealth and Influence)

Your wounds heal quickly. This trait comes in two levels:

Rapid Healing: Whenever you roll to recover lost HP or to see if you can get over a crippling injury, you get +5 to your effective HT. Prerequisite: HT 10+. 5 points.

Very Rapid Healing: As above, but when you roll to recover lost HT, a successful HT roll means you heal two HP, not one. Prerequisite: HT 12+. 15 points.

Note that this advantage does not hasten recovery from the short-term effects of injury, such as stunning and knockout; get Recovery for that.

Instead of Very Rapid Healing providing two HP, it might feel more plausible to allow this advantage to increase HP restored from any source by a full multiple, as explained in High HP and Healing (p. B424). For example, someone with HP 21 and Very Rapid Healing would heal three times as fast! The GM may also decide to make Very Rapid Healing a leveled advantage. The first level costs 15 points; each additional level costs 10 points and increases the multiple provided by high HP by one. Two or three levels suit Monster Hunter games, instead of or in addition to Regeneration.

You can use witty repartee to stun your foes in combat. This does not require a combat maneuver - talking is a free action (p. 363). Roll a Quick Contest of Public Speaking skill vs. your opponents Will.

Modifiers: -2 if your target has the Clueless or No Sense of Humor disadvantage; any modifier the GM assigns based on your description of the verbal attack; -1 per opponent beyond the first to affect a group (and you must know something the entire group has in common; e.g., they're all flunkies of the same household or members of the same military unit). Opponents with the Unfazeable advantage are immune to Rapier Wit.

If you win, your opponent is mentally stunned (see p. 420). A critical success causes one HP of physical damage as well - your victim injures himself accidentally (drops something on his foot, chokes on his own tongue, etc.). If you lose, there is no effect. On a critical failure, you enrage your opponent, possibly triggering such disadvantages as Berserk and Bloodlust!

This advantage is usually only appropriate in a silly campaign!

Whenever you take any maneuver, you may also perform any action that’s considered a Ready maneuver (p. B366), either before or after it. Thus, you could use your extra Ready to draw a firearm or sheath a sword, while also readying or attacking with another weapon.

Advantages: Extra Attack (Readying only, +0%) [25], or 5 points to add For Attack or Readying, +20% to Extra Attack if the character already has the advantage. The GM might allow a +100% version that gives both a Ready and an Attack, or allows the PC to trade any Attack (gained from maneuvers, spells, advantages, etc.) for an additional Ready maneuver.

You can “remember” skills (spells, techniques, etc.) learned during previous lives. You must purchase these abilities normally; Reawakened is just a special Unusual Background that explains how you learned them without a teacher. This trait is only available if reincarnation is a fact in the setting (GM's decision).

You recover from unconsciousness very quickly. When determining the length of time you remain unconscious for any reason, divide by all times by 60: hours become minutes, minutes become seconds… even a month-long coma becomes a mere 12-hour sleep.

You can go for a long time without food and water, or fuel - although you still require these things. (For indefinite endurance, see Doesn't Eat or Drink.) This advantage comes in four levels:

Reduced Consumption 1: You require 2/3 as much food and water, or fuel, as usual (“two meals a day”). 2 points.

Reduced Consumption 2: You require 1/3 as much food and water, or fuel, as usual (“one meal a day”). 4 points.

Reduced Consumption 3: You require food and water only once per week (“one meal a week,” or about 5% as much). 6 points.

Reduced Consumption 4: You require food and water only once per month (“one meal a month,” or about 1% as much). 8 points.

Note that one or even two levels of this advantage might be appropriate for ascetics in cinematic games!

Includes Air: Your reduced requirements include oxygen (or whatever other gas you breathe). As well as reducing your life support requirements, this means that, if you are suffocating (p. B436), your rate of FP loss and time intervals before possible brain damage and certain death are reduced in proportion:

You also make Will rolls to retain consciousness once you reach 0 FP at the same frequency as you lose FP. If you get clean air again, you recover FP at the full normal rate. Damage from inhaled gases (such as attacks with the Respiratory Agent modifier) may likewise be reduced, and HT rolls to resist such things may take a bonus of +1 or +2 per level – but some respiratory agents are effective in very small doses, so this isn’t always a very good defense (GM’s option). +200%.

Air Only: As above, but the advantage only reduces your need for air; your food requirements are unaffected. +100%

Cast-Iron Stomach: You require the standard amount of food and water, but the quality is irrelevant. You can eat rotten vegetables and fuzzy bluegreen meat, and drink dishwater and sour milk. Instead of reducing how often you must eat, reduce your demands on life support (and your food costs) by a like amount: to 2/3 normal at level 1, 1/3 normal at level 2, 5% normal at level 3, and 1% normal at level 4. You get a bonus equal to your level (+1 to +4) to resist the effects of food-borne poisons or diseases not tailored expressly for you, but -3 on reactions from anyone watching you eat! -50%.

Food Only: You require less food, but the usual amount of water. -50%.

Water Only: You require less water, but the usual amount of food. -50%.

Your wounds heal in mere hours, minutes, or seconds! To regenerate lost limbs, you will also need Regrowth - but Regeneration will greatly accelerate that ability. Regeneration includes Rapid Healing at no extra cost.

You cannot have Regeneration if you have Slow Healing or Unhealing. Regeneration is compatible with Draining (p. 132), but it does not restore the daily HP loss due to that disadvantage.

The cost of this trait depends on your regeneration speed:

Regeneration (Slow): You recover 1 HP every 12 hours, in addition to normal healing. 10 points.

Regeneration (Regular): You recover 1 HP per hour. 25 points.

Regeneration (Fast): You recover 1 HP per minute. 50 points.

Regeneration (Very Fast): You recover 1 HP per second. 100 points.

Regeneration (Extreme): You recover 10 HP per second. 150 points.

Heals Radiation: You shed accumulated rads at 10 times the rate at which you heal missing HP. For instance, Regeneration (Regular) removes 10 rads per hour. This will heal “permanent” radiation damage. +40%.

Radiation Only: As Heals Radiation, but you only shed rads - you do not heal HP. -60%.

You can regrow lost limbs and organs! A lost ear, finger, toe, claw, tentacle tip, etc. regrows in 1d weeks; a lost hand or foot in ld+1 months; and a lost eye, arm, or leg in 2d+2 months. If you also have Regeneration (above), Regrowth works much faster: all lost body parts regrow in the time it takes you to heal to full HP.

Minor: You can only regrow ears, fingers, toes, and other small bits - not hands, feet, eyes, etc. -50%.

(see Rank)

Prerequisites: Craftiness 3+, Shadowing at 19+, Stealth at 19+, and either Detective! at 17+ or Talker! at 17+.

While this power-up is active, you’re just another face in the crowd. Each level of Remarkably Unremarkable gives a penalty for others to recognize you in a lineup, photographs, or videos; IQ rolls to recall specifics about you; attempts to gather facts mundanely; and so on. It also gives a penalty to discern your emotional state or when trying to guess what you might do. In all cases, this includes mundane uses of Body Language, Criminology, Detect Lies, Intelligence Analysis, Interrogation, Psychology, Tactics, Strategy, and any non-supernatural ability that discerns emotions or predicts your actions (e.g., Empathy or Deductive Mastery). The GM may include any use of an Influence skill if the GM thinks understanding the subject’s emotional state would be important for the skill in question.

The higher the penalty, the harder it is for someone to recall who you are or to read your emotions. Remarkably Unremarkable 10 means no one ever remembers who you are or can discern your current emotional state when this power-up is active. These effects persist even after you turn your power-up off. For example, if your ability was on while you eluded the police, and you later turned it off, the police take your trait’s full penalty to rolls to recall you. If you came across them again without it active, they’d remember that new encounter normally, but not what you did before.

This is not a supernatural ability! Instead, it’s careful, even paranoid attention to everything you say or do, who sees you, and so on, until it becomes instinctive. This power-up requires 2d days of shredding non-vital documents, staying out of the public eye, carefully coaching your emotions while looking into a mirror, etc. to become active. Once active, you remain Remarkably Unremarkable until you spend another 2d days, relaxing what has become second nature to you.

A champion created with Remarkably Unremarkable may declare it’s “on” from the first game session, but someone who purchases it in play requires the usual time to activate it. The player can toggle it between game sessions, if enough game time elapses. If there isn’t enough time, the GM may count time spent in play toward turning it off or on if the player roleplays this!

Champions with this ability may declare anyone present when he begins turning it on to be unaffected by that use of the ability. They may change this with later uses.

Advantages: Obscure (Memory*; Defensive, +50%; Extended, Emotions, Mundane Predictions, +40%; No Area Effect, -50%; Onset, 2d days†, -40%; Selective Effect, +20%; Stealthy, +100%) [4.4/level].

* Not technically a sense, but still appropriate for use with Obscure.

† Normally, Onset is for attacks. But at -40% for a week to switch the ability off or on, it’s balanced with respect to Always On at -50%. Since a week is seven days, converting the static amount to 2d is effectively a feature.

Any time you successfully repair or build a machine, make a note of your margin of success. (If you don’t possess the necessary skill, you may still roll against your IQ for this, as long as it is your gear.) When the machine is forced to make a HT roll (or Malfunction roll if it has one) for any reason, add half your noted margin of success to its roll. This doesn’t stack with any previous bonus you may have given it. You may choose to use a weekly maintenance roll to determine the item’s subsequent HT bonus – though you must state this before performing maintenance and must accept the new roll.

Your personal gear is considered to be maintained without rolling if your skill is 16 or higher; the default bonus is equal to (Skill - 16), minimum of +1. For other gear that you want to impart this bonus on, or for your own gear if your skill is less than 16, you must spend at least a minute per week maintaining the item.

Advantages: Affliction 1 (Advantage, HT +1, Margin-Based (Accessibility, Half-margin, -40%), +180%; Based on IQ, Own Roll, +20%; Based on HT or Malfunction, Gear Maintained, +20%; Extended Duration, Permanent, +150%; Machines only, -20%; Malfunction* +1, Margin-Based (Accessibility, Half-margin, -40%), +18%; Melee Attack, Reach C, Cannot Parry, -35%) [44].

Perk: Intuitive Repairman! [5]†; No Nuisance Rolls (Maintaining own gear) [1].

* This allows you to increase the Malfunction (p. B279) of items that have it; gear with a Malfunction of 19 or higher doesn’t malfunction!

† Uses the rules for wildcard perks (p. 5), extending the perk to all of a techie’s gear instead of a specific piece.

(see Reputation)

A positive Reputation is an advantage and should be noted as such on your character sheet.

You are naturally resistant (or even immune) to noxious items or substances that are not direct, physical attacks. This gives you a bonus on all HT rolls to resist incapacitation or injury from such things.

The GM may allow a character to have increased resistance to Influence rolls. This is a “Common” effect, with base cost 15 points – the same as Indomitable, which is effectively Immunity to Influence rolls. A +8 to all Will rolls to resist is worth 7 points; +3 is worth 5 points.

The bonus from Resistant applies to all rolls to resist noxious effects within a particular category - usually some combination of disease, poison, and environmental syndromes (altitude sickness, the bends, space sickness, etc.). It also applies to rolls to resist attacks that use these effects. This includes Afflictions with one of Blood Agent, Contact Agent, Follow-Up, or Respiratory Agent, and Innate Attacks that have such modifiers and inflict toxic or fatigue damage.

Resistant does not protect against effects that Damage Resistance or Protected Sense either stop or provide a HT bonus to resist. This includes Afflictions and Innate Attacks that do not have any of the modifiers given above.

The base cost for Resistant depends on the rarity of the effects it counteracts:

Very Common: A broad category within the noxious items described above. Example: Metabolic Hazards (all threats that only affect the living, including all disease and poison, plus such syndromes as altitude sickness, bends, seasickness, and jet lag). 30 points.

Common: A group of related items encountered as often in nature as in an attack, or some other suitably broad subset of “Very Common.” Example: Poison (all toxins, but not asphyxiants or corrosives) or Sickness (all diseases and environmental syndromes). 15 points.

Occasional: A group of closely related items more often encountered in nature than as a deliberate attack, or a subset of a “Common” group. Examples: Disease (all bacteria, viruses, fungus infections, etc.) or Ingested Poison. 10 points.

Rare: A specific item or environmental syndrome, or a subset of an “Occasional” group. Examples: Acceleration (blackouts due to extreme G-forces), Altitude Sickness, Bends (decompression sickness), Seasickness, or Space Sickness; Nanomachines. 5 points.

Multiply base cost to reflect your degree of resistance:

You are totally immune to all noxious effects, and never have to make resistance rolls (write this as “Immunity” on your character sheet): x1.

You have +14 to all HT rolls to resist: x4/5.

You have +12 to all HT rolls to resist: x2/3.

You have +10 to all HT rolls to resist: x3/5.

You have +8 to all HT rolls to resist: x1/2.

You have +5 to all HT rolls to resist: x2/5.

You have +3 to all HT rolls to resist: x1/3.

You have +1 to all HT rolls to resist: x1/5.

Drop all fractions from the final cost.

An ordinary human could believably have any level of resistance to a mundane “Rare” item, such as Seasickness. He might also have Resistant to Disease (+3) [3], Resistant to Disease (+8) [5], or Resistant to Poison (+3) [5]. Anything more would be superhuman. Golems, robots, undead, and other beings that are not truly “alive” must take Immunity to Metabolic Hazards [30]; this is already included in the Machine meta-trait. When in doubt, the GM's word is final.

Mental Resistance: It is possible to be Resistant to a purely mental threat. This works as described above, except that the bonus applies to resistance rolls against IQ and Will instead of HT. “Psionics” is an allowed category, and is considered Very Common.

If the story features zombie contagion, the GM must decide how resistance to that works. Several options follow. Players beware: The GM isn’t obliged to share this decision – uncertainty among survivors may be essential to the campaign!

Extraordinary Symptoms: A zombie plague could be an “ordinary” bacterial, fungal, parasitic, or viral disease with astonishing symptoms. The resistance roll may be difficult (as severe as -6 for infectivity), but a robust immune system helps. In that case, Resistant to Disease functions normally. Certain forms of contagion make a roll to infect instead of offering a roll to resist; against these, treat +3 or +8 to HT as -3 or -8 to the disease’s success roll. Whatever rolls are involved, Immunity completely blocks an “ordinary” zombie plague.

Extraordinary Disease: The cause might instead be some weird-but-comprehensible factor such as chemical toxins, nanomachines, or prions. If a HT roll is allowed, then it’s reasonable to permit PCs to buy extra resistance, but separate from Resistant to Disease. Resistant to Poison involves a “Common” category (base 15 points); Resistant to Nanomachines, an “Occasional” one (base 10 points); and Resistant to Prions, a “Rare” one (base 5 points). These protect from zombie contagion just like an equivalent level of Resistant to Disease – if you have the right trait. Restricting ordinary humans to +3 in these categories is most realistic.

Unique Disease: A zombie plague needn’t make any sense in real-world terms. If the GM rules that it’s its own thing, then it is. It counts as “Rare,” but it isn’t a subset of an “Occasional” group such as disease or poison – it’s a whole other specific item. Base cost is 5 points, and the GM decides whether PCs may buy Resistant to Zombie Plague. There are plenty of examples in the source fiction where no hero can resist!

Curses can work like plagues, but with the “Mental Resistance” rule in effect so that Resistant aids Will rather than HT. Cost depends on category breadth: a broad power source or advantage origin (p. B33) such as Chi, Divine, or Spirit is “Very Common”; a particular power like one of those on pp. 121-136 of Powers (Bioenergy, Death, Evil, Vampirism, etc.), the evil influence of a specific deity, or a body of curses equal in depth to a whole college of magic, is “Common.” Skip “Occasional” unless there’s an entire subset of abilities or curses that enslave the living or reanimate the dead. One specific zombie curse is “Rare,” like a unique plague.

Prerequisite: Magery.

This new advantage represents inherent magical power, and is only available to dedicated spellcasters (e.g., witches). While the spells cast by an average person (even a mage) are slow and bound by several restrictions, yours are not. See Ritual Path Magic (pp. 32-39) for details.

Prerequisites: Guns (any specialty) at 12+ and Gunslinger; or Guns (any specialty) at 16+.

When using a specific Gun specialty, you ignore the penalty when making a Move and Attack. Moreover, you keep your Aim if you aimed the previous turn and can retreat normally despite having made a Move and Attack, although you only get +1 to active defenses when you do so. This reduction does come with a special benefit: you may retreat against a ranged attack as long as the attacker is within two yards of you even though this is normally not possible. You may also parry attacks normally if using a firearm to parry or parrying a firearm in close combat and receive +1 to do so. You may also perform a ranged Rapid Strike if you can normally do so (e.g., you have the Quick-Shooting power-up).

Commandos may choose Gun! as their specialty for this power-up. When combined with Gunslinger, this power-up allows them to keep the skill bonus from their weapon’s Accuracy and ignore their weapon’s Bulk penalty. The GM may permit archer-variant warriors (p. 20) to buy this power-up for use with Archery! (p. 8), allowing it to be used with bows, crossbows, slingshots, etc.

Perks: Unique Technique (Run and Gun) [1].

Techniques: Run and Gun (H) Skill+0 [9] without Gunslinger, or [5] with it.

You can emit energy, bounce it off objects, and analyze the returned signal to build up a “picture” of your surroundings. This lets you discern size and shape, but not color or fine detail (such as writing). It has nothing to do with the normal human sense of sight, and requires no light. As a result, you may ignore darkness penalties in combat. Perception is limited to a 120° arc in front of you.

Your sense is “active.” Anyone who can sense the signal you emit can detect you, out to twice your own range. Unlike other sensory advantages, however, you can turn this ability off; see Turning Advantages Off and On.

Below are several varieties of Scanning Sense. Each is a separate advantage, with its own special rules. Where these rules contradict the general ones given above, follow the special rules. Each sense also has a base range. To adjust this, take Increased Range or Reduced Range.

Extra-Sensory Awareness: Your Scanning Sense uses waves of psionic energy to map the immediate area. Base range is only 20 yards, but it works in any environment. It can distinguish fine relief as perfectly as the human eye. Only psychotronic devices or people with Psi Sense (p. 41) can detect Extra-Sensory Awareness. Enhancements for Para-Radar can be applied to Extra-Sensory Awareness. 20 points.

Radar: Your Scanning Sense uses radio waves. Base range is 2,000 yards. You can only detect large (human-sized or larger), dense objects. On a Sense roll, you get a general idea of the relative size of the object, and whether it is moving, but nothing more precise. You cannot get an actual “image” with Radar, or use it to aim attacks. Radar works best on flying targets; roll at -4 to spot anyone who is not silhouetted against the sky. Radar does not work at all underwater. 20 points.

Imaging Radar: Your Scanning Sense uses millimeter-wave radar. Base range is 200 yards. You can spot small objects and determine their shape, but you must make a Sense roll to distinguish fine relief (e.g., to identify a face). Imaging Radar can see through thin fabric or vegetation. You get +3 to locate objects like concealed weapons, and may ignore penalties for spotting objects hidden behind light brush. Ordinary radar detectors detect Imaging Radar at -4. Imaging Radar does not work underwater. 20 points.

Ladar: Your Scanning Sense uses a laser beam. Base range is 200 yards. Ladar is very similar to Imaging Radar, but the beam is narrower and offers better resolution. This gives -4 on rolls to locate objects of interest, but +4 on rolls to identify them. Only specialized ladar detectors can detect Ladar, and at -4 even then. Ladar cannot penetrate dense smoke or solid objects. It has 10-50% range in falling rain or snow, and 1% range underwater. 20 points.

Para-Radar: Your Scanning Sense uses energy unknown to 21st-century science. Treat Para-Radar as Imaging Radar, except that it functions in any environment! Ordinary radar detectors cannot detect Para-Radar, although some ultra-tech sensors might be able to do so. 40 points.

Sonar: Your Scanning Sense uses ultrasonic sound waves. Base range is 2,000 yards underwater. You can spot small objects and determine their shape, but you must make a Sense roll to distinguish fine relief (e.g., to identify a face). Sonar does not function if you are deafened, and can be “jammed” or fooled by a very loud noise (e.g., an explosion). Individuals with Ultrahearing can detect Sonar. Sonar is much less effective in air: range is only 20 yards multiplied by air pressure in atmospheres (one atmosphere on Earth). Sonar is completely ineffective in vacuum. 20 points.

T-Ray Vision: Your Scanning Sense uses sub-millimeter wave (terahertz) radar, bordering on the infrared. Base range is 200 yards. 25 points.

Extended Arc: You can scan an arc greater than 120°. A 240° arc (as described for Peripheral Vision) is +75%; a 360° arc (as described for 360° Vision) is +125%.

Low-Probability Intercept (LPI): This is only available for Radar and Sonar. You can switch this enhancement on and off. Turning it on makes your signal difficult to detect. This halves range, but your Scanning Sense can only be detected at 1.5 times the halved range. +10%.

Multi-Mode: This is only available for Radar. You can switch between Radar and Imaging Radar. (This is much cheaper than buying the two advantages separately, because they overlap to some extent.) +50%.

Penetrating: This is only available for Para-Radar. You can “see” inside any object within range. This functions exactly as Penetrating Vision 2. +50%.

Targeting: By taking an Aim maneuver, you can “lock onto” any object within range and determine its precise range and speed - just as if you had a high-tech rangefinder. This gives you +3 to hit that target with an aimed ranged attack. +20%.

Bio-Scan: Para-Radar only. You receive vital signs and biochemical information from anything you scan – both the target itself and anything living on its surface. This lets you use skills like Biology and Diagnosis from a distance. With Penetrating, you can also examine living beings inside inanimate objects (e.g., the passengers of a car). +50%.

Scanner: Para-Radar only. You receive detailed information about the composition, energy output, radiation emissions, and other characteristics of anything you scan. You can use scientific skills such as Chemistry and Physics to do detailed analysis from a distance. With Penetrating, you can spot specific systems within a complex machine and analyze them using Engineer skill. Robots with built-in ultra-scan typically have both enhancements – and often Bio-Scan, too. +50%.

Targeting Only: As Targeting, but you can only use your sense to “lock onto” targets already spotted with another sense; you cannot use it to spot things. -40%.

You are encased in a gas- and liquid-impermeable layer. This makes you waterproof, and grants complete immunity to corrosive or toxic agents that must touch skin or exposed machinery to work. You must still breathe, unless you also have Doesn't Breathe; however, your exterior breathing apparatus (nose, snorkel, etc.) is protected by this trait. Likewise, you are not automatically pressurized; for that, take Pressure Support or Vacuum Support.

A government agency or corporation trusts you with access to sensitive information that would otherwise be “off limits” to someone of your Rank or Status. For instance, a general “cleared” for military secrets commensurate with his Military Rank would not have to buy Security Clearance separately, but a civilian with exactly the same level of access would have to pay points for the privilege.

Point cost depends on your degree of access:

• You have access to a relatively narrow range of secrets on a “need to know” basis. Example: a strategic bomber pilot, who might know secrets about aircraft, weapons, and targets. 5 points.

• You have either free access to a narrow range of secrets or “need to know” access to a broad range of

secrets. Example: a counterintelligence officer, who would have limited access to many secrets, as part of his job is to protect them. 10 points.

• You have free access to a broad range of secrets. Example: a cinematic secret agent, who will know almost

any secret the plot requires him to know. 15 points.

Halve these values (round up) if the organization that grants the Security Clearance is of relatively minor importance (e.g., a small corporation or municipal government).

You cannot receive a security clearance without a thorough background check. The GM is free to forbid this advantage to any PC who has a suspicious past (including such traits as Debt or Secret) or an unstable personality (for instance, Paranoia or Sadism).

You can see objects or individuals that are normally invisible. Buy this advantage separately for each kind of invisibility.

With the True Sight (GURPS Powers, p. 73) enhancement, this allows you to ignore appropriate abilities based on Chameleon, Illusion, Invisibility, Obscure, Silence, and anything with the Glamour limitation.

Exclusive: You must switch your sight between normal vision and the ability to see invisible things, making this an active ability (requiring a Ready maneuver to switch) instead of a passive one. If Partially Exclusive (-20%), the real world is a dark, muted gray while your See Invisible is on; all Vision rolls are at -4. If Completely Exclusive (-50%), you are effective blind to the real world while using it.

Your fingertips or equivalent organs are extremely sensitive, allowing you to sense residual heat in a chair, faint vibrations in the floor as someone approaches, etc. You get +4 (in addition to any Acute Touch bonuses) on any task that utilizes the sense of touch; e.g., a Forensics roll to note the similarities or differences between two pieces of fabric, or a Search roll to feel out tiny concealed objects.

You have the knack of being in the right place at the right time. Each level of this trait entitles you to one fortuitous but plausible coincidence per game session. The details are up to the GM. For instance, the GM might declare that one of the guards you need to talk your way past just happens to be your cousin, or that there is a sports car idling in front of the bank just as you run outside in pursuit of the fleeing bank robbers.

From time to time, the GM may rule that a single implausible coincidence counts as some or all of your lucky breaks for a given session (e.g., the mechanic at the local garage has all the parts you need to complete your ultra-tech contragrav belt).

You are free to suggest serendipitous occurrences to the GM, but he gets the final say. Should he reject all your suggestions but fail to work Serendipity into the game session, you will get your lucky breaks next game session.

You can become a two-dimensional shadow. This lets you slip along walls and floors - and through the thinnest cracks (anything wide enough to fit your shoulders through) - at your usual ground Move. You can also defy gravity, creeping up walls and across ceilings at half Move.

Physical attacks do half damage to you in this form. Energy attacks do normal damage, except for light-based attacks, which do 50% extra damage. Magic, psi, and other purely mental abilities affect you normally.

You are subject to a few major restrictions while in this form. You cannot walk through three-dimensional space; you must slide along an object. Furthermore, you cannot perform any purely physical attacks or actions, and you cannot carry ordinary items or affect them in any way. You can use magic, psi, and similar abilities, however.

If you cannot switch out of Shadow Form, Shadow Form is a disadvantage worth -20 points. This will make it difficult to interact with others! You may still add enhancements, but they will work like limitations, reducing the value of the disadvantage. For instance, a +50% enhancement would reduce the value of the disadvantage by 50%, to -10 points.

Can Carry Objects: You may carry objects. They take Shadow Form when picked up and return to normal when put down. You still may not affect non-shadow objects. No encumbrance is +10%; Light, +20%; Medium, +50%; Heavy, +100%.

You can physically change into one or more forms different from your native form. To shift between forms, you must concentrate for 10 seconds. To speed this up, add Reduced Time.

Fatigue, injury, crippling, and afflictions carry over between forms - although HP and FP losses scale in proportion to the HP and FP of the form. For instance, if you suffer 10 HP of damage and a broken leg in a form that has 20 HP, you will have 5 HP of damage and a broken leg when you switch to a form that has only 10 HP.

If you are knocked out or killed, you immediately revert to your native form (which will also be unconscious or dead). In addition, you must specify a single, reasonably common external influence that can force you to return to your native form against your will. This should suit the advantage's origin: a Dispel Magic spell if your ability is magical, exorcism if a spirit power, strong magnetic fields if technological, etc.

Shapeshifting comprises two different traits: Alternate Form and Morph.

Like the werewolf of folklore, you can assume a specific form other than your own. This can be anything built with points: humanoid, animal, robot, etc. Create your alternate form as a racial template; however, you can switch it “on” and “off.” This template need not be a “stock” template. For instance, if you wish to retain human intelligence in beast form, you could shift into a template that lacks the beast's low IQ (although this increases the template cost and hence the cost of Alternate Form). The GM is the final judge of what templates are allowed as Alternate Forms.

While it is turned on, your Alternate Form's racial template replaces your native racial template. Apply its racial traits - attribute modifiers, racial advantages and disadvantages, etc. - instead of those of your native race. Personal traits (including all attribute levels, advantages, disadvantages, and skills bought over and above racial norms) remain intact, although your skill levels are affected by changes to the controlling attribute scores.

If the Alternate Form's racial template has traits that conflict with your personal traits, the traits of your Alternate Form take precedence. For instance, if you become a dolphin with No Manipulators, you will temporarily lose personal advantages that affect your hands, such as High Manual Dexterity, while you are in dolphin form - and some skills (for instance, Lockpicking) will be relatively useless, although you do remember them.

If you have a single Alternate Form, it costs 15 points for a racial template worth no more than your native racial template. A more powerful form costs 15 points plus 90% of the difference in cost between your native template and that of your Alternate Form.

If you have multiple forms, pay full cost for the most expensive form. The less powerful Alternate Forms cost a flat 15 points apiece. Minimum cost per form is still 15 points.

Example: Consider four racial templates: a -100-point “cuddly critter,” a 0-point human, an 80-point “ravenous beast,” and a 100-point troll. A human who can turn into a cuddly critter pays 15 points, as the cuddly critter template is worth less than his native template. A cuddly critter who can turn into a human pays 15 + (0.9 x 100) = 105 points, since the human racial template is worth 100 points more than his own. A human who can become a troll also pays 15 + (0.9 x 100) = 105 points. A human who can assume any of the other three templates would pay full cost for his most expensive form, the troll: 105 points. The ravenous beast and cuddly critter forms would cost the minimum 15 points apiece. Total cost would be 135 points.

Were-Creatures: To create the classic “were-creature,” start by purchasing any trait that applies in both forms - Infectious Attack, Vulnerability (Silver), etc. - as a personal trait. Next, buy an animal template as an Alternate Form. Since most beast templates are worth 0 or fewer points, this will usually cost 15 points, but powerful creatures (e.g., bears and tigers) may cost more. If the beast form is savage, the template should include such traits as Berserk, Bestial, and Bloodlust. Finally, apply limitations such as Emergencies Only, Unconscious Only, and Uncontrollable to Alternate Form, as applicable. If you can only change during the full moon, add a -40% Trigger limitation as well.

Shapeshifting Races: When creating an entire race that has Alternate Form, work out the details of Alternate Form last. Total the cost of all the race's traits other than Alternate Form, subtract this total from the cost of the template the race transforms into, and use the difference to calculate the cost of Alternate Form for the race. Add the cost of Alternate Form to that of the race's other abilities to determine final racial cost.

Example: Forest Dwarves can turn into sapient bears. Excluding Alternate Form, the racial traits of Forest Dwarves total 25 points. The bear template is worth 125 points. The difference is 125 - 25 = 100 points. Thus, the cost of Alternate Form is 15 + (0.9 x 100) = 105 points. This makes the Forest Dwarf template worth 25 + 105 = 130 points.

Cosmetic: You can assume a second, distinct appearance with no change in abilities or racial template. -50%.

This ability is similar to Alternate Form, but not limited to specific racial templates. You can assume any racial template, within certain limits.

First, the racial template must already exist in your game world. The GM might design the template himself or take one from a GURPS worldbook, but you cannot design totally new templates for the purpose of Morph (you can adjust existing ones, though; see below).

Second, you can only turn into a living being, or a formerly living being such as a vampire. To change into a machine requires a special enhancement.

Finally, the templates point value must be within a limit determined by the number of points you have in Morph.

If you can assume any racial template worth no more than your native one, Morph costs 100 points. This makes many forms available - anything no more powerful than your native form. For a human, this includes cats, insects, owls, and wolves. If you can assume more powerful forms, add the difference between the maximum racial template cost and the cost of your native template to the base 100 points. For instance, a human who can take on any racial template worth up to 75 points would pay 175 points for Morph. You may improve this limit with earned character points.

You can always take on the form of a being you can see or touch, provided its racial template cost does not exceed your maximum. Once you have assumed a form, you can opt to memorize it by concentrating for one minute. This allows you to shapeshift into that form at any time. You can memorize a number of forms equal to your IQ. If all your “slots” are full, you must overwrite a previously memorized form (your choice) to add the new form.

As with Alternate Form, the racial template of whatever you turn into replaces your native racial template. You may not add traits to templates, but you may freely omit racial mental disadvantages (e.g., Bestial), and you may always choose to drop the racial IQ modifier from a template and use your own IQ. Such changes raise the cost of animal templates, which are cheap due to limited mental capabilities. If you intend to do this, you should spend more than the minimum 100 points on Morph.

Morph includes the ability to make cosmetic changes. This lets you impersonate a specific member of any race you can turn into. You can always impersonate someone who is present - but to assume his form later on, you must commit a memory “slot” to that form. With enough points in Morph, you can use this function to improve appearance. For instance, 115 points in Morph would let you give yourself any appearance from Horrific to Handsome. Cosmetic changes still take the usual 10 seconds.

Shapeshifting Races: Members of a race with the Morph ability must subtract the point cost of Morph from racial cost when determining what forms they can assume.

Example: Blue Blobs have a racial Morph ability worth 125 points - the basic ability, plus 25 points of extra capacity. This lets them assume forms worth 25 points more than their native one. With their other traits, their total racial cost is 175 points. However, for the purpose of Morph, they are considered to have a racial cost of 175 -125 = 50 points. With their 25 points of additional capacity, Blue Blobs can turn into creatures worth up to 75 points.

Unlimited: You can become anything the GM has defined with a racial template. This lets you turn into robots, vehicles, etc. as well as living beings. Most ordinary inanimate objects - such as bricks and toasters - are worth 0 points or less. With the GM's permission, you can become a typical example of an object like this without the need for a specific racial template. +50%.

Cosmetic: You can only change your outward appearance. Your abilities and racial template are unaffected. -50%.

Mass Conservation: All your forms have the same weight. If the weight of your native form falls outside the normal racial weight range for a race, you simply cannot become a member of that race. The GM should be merciless when enforcing this limitation - no 150-lb. mice or elephants! -20%.

Retains Shape: You can only assume forms with the same number of limbs, body layout, posture, etc. as your native form. This would limit a human Morph to humanoids (e.g., elves and giants), a wolf Morph to horizontal quadrupeds, and a bird Morph to other birds. -20%.

Needs Sample: You must eat the person whose outward form you wish to assume. This requires a fresh corpse – a rotting one is useless to you. -50%.

Prerequisites: Gun! at 19+, Perception 16+ (or Perception with Acute Vision is 16+), and Gunslinger.

Unlike most gunslingers, you do not halve the final Accuracy for automatic fire or using a two-handed weapon. When you take a Move and Attack maneuver, you still halve the Accuracy, but ignore the Bulk penalty of your weapon.

Advantages: Adds the new special enhancement Sharpshooter, +80% to Gunslinger [20].

You can shrink at will. Each level of Shrinking lets you change your Size Modifier by -1, at the rate of -1 SM per second. You return to normal size at the same rate. By default, you cannot carry any equipment, not even clothing, when you shrink. The ability to carry objects while shrunk is an enhancement.

When you shrink, find your new height from the Size Modifier Table. Every -6 to SM reduces height by a factor of 10. Reduce Move, reach, damage (with unarmed attacks, Innate Attacks, or shrunken weapons), HP, and DR in proportion to height. Every full -2 to SM also reduces weight by a factor of 10; for odd-numbered levels, treat the extra -1 as an additional factor of 3 (e.g., -3 to SM reduces weight by a factor of 30).

Example: A 5'10“-tall character (SM 0) has Shrinking 12. This lets him shrink until he has SM -12, reducing his height by a factor of 100 (to about 0.7”). However, at that size he has only 1% his usual Move, reach, HP, and DR, and must divide any damage he inflicts by 100. His weight goes down by a factor of 1,000,000!

Affects Others: You can bring your friends with you when you shrink! +50% per person you can affect at the same time.

Can Carry Objects: You may carry objects. This is limited to equipment you are actually carrying or wearing when you shrink. Such items regain normal size when put down; at the GM's option, they might sweep you aside as they grow, or even return to normal size beneath you, stranding you high above the ground! No encumbrance is +10%; Light, +20%; Medium, +50%; Heavy, +100%.

Full Damage: You inflict full damage when shrunk. (GMs be warned: this makes for an almost perfect assassin.) +100%.

Full DR: You retain full DR when shrunk. +30%.

Full HP: You retain full HP when shrunk. +30%.

Full Move: You retain full Move when shrunk. +30%.

You have distinctive, valuable possessions unrelated to your wealth level. This gear is as much a part of your personal legend as are your reputation and skills. You must explain where it came from: you won your starship in a card game, inherited your magic sword from your mentor, etc. For equipment normally bought with money, such as weapons and armor, each point in Signature Gear gives goods worth up to 50% of the average campaign starting wealth (but never cash). For anything built as a character, use the rules under Allies instead. It is up to the GM whether to treat android companions, faithful steeds, custom vehicles, etc. as equipment (with a cash cost) or characters (with a point cost).

If you misplace Signature Gear or sell it unwillingly, or an NPC steals or confiscates it, the GM must give you an opportunity to recover it in the course of the adventure. If it is truly lost forever through no fault of your own, the GM will give you back your points (or replace the item with another of equal value). However, should you sell or give away your Signature Gear of your own free will, it is gone, along with the points spent on it!

You can move and breathe noiselessly. You get +2 per level to Stealth skill when you are perfectly motionless, or +1 if moving (even in armor, etc.). These bonuses help only in the dark, or against listening devices, blind creatures, and others who must rely on hearing to find you.

You can really concentrate! You get +3 to success rolls for any lengthy mental task you concentrate on to the exclusion of other activities, if the GM feels such focus would be beneficial. You tend to ignore everything else while obsessed (roll vs. Will to avoid this), and have -5 to all rolls to notice interruptions.

The GM may rule that certain complex tasks (e.g., inventing, magic, and social activities) require you to divide your attention. This trait has no effect in such situations.

A racial or class-based bonus to a specific skill is a limited Talent that costs 2 points for +1, 4 points for +2, or 6 points for +3 (the maximum).

Prerequisites: Any skill listed for a specific monster in Know Thy Enemy (see Enemy Knowledge, p. 6) at 16+; and any of Extraordinary Luck, Gunslinger, Trained by a Master, or Weapon Master.

Once per game session, while fighting a supernatural being, you may choose to ignore a particular non-Damage Resistance protective trait that you’re aware your target has; this knowledge may require a skill roll. For example, you could shoot a vampire with a gun and tell the GM you’re ignoring his Injury Tolerance (Unliving) or Supernatural Durability for that one attack.

Successfully bypassing the protective trait requires you to win a Quick Contest against the better of your target’s HT or Will vs. the best of your Perception, your best targeting sense (Vision, for humans), or a Per-based weapon or unarmed skill. The GM may also allow appropriate skills from Know Thy Enemy, but require you to make Per-based rolls. At levels 2 and 3, your target takes a further -1 or -2 in the Quick Contest to resist this effect. Your roll takes normal range penalties (p. B550) if a ranged attack; better get close!

Win or lose, you make your subsequent attack roll normally. Victory means you ignore the trait you specified. Winning by 10 or more results in an increase in your criticalsuccess range when you actually deliver the strike! At level 1, if your effective skill level is 17 or greater, you critically succeed on a 7 or less. At level 2, this increases to 18 for effective skill and critical success on an 8 or less. Level 3 raises this to 19 and a critical hit on a 9 or less! You may have up to three levels of this power-up.

Slayer’s Strike may be used a number of times in a session equal to its level. The desperate may sacrifice unspent character points or use destiny points to gain additional uses of this power-up. Each point spent garners them another use, even if they have already reached their maximum allotment for the game session.

Advantages: Affliction 1 (Accessibility, Supernatural beings only, -40%; Based on Perception, Own Roll, +20%; Character-point powered*, ¥1/5 cost; Fixed Duration, -0%; Follow-Up, Universal, +50%; Malediction 2, +150%; Nuisance Effect, Actual time is for one attack only, -5%; Nuisance Effect, Target rolls against the better of HT or Will, -20%; Reduced Duration 1/60, -35%; Variable Enhancement 150 (Accessibility, Only Negated Advantage enhancements that reduce unnatural fortitude, -50%), +750%) [20/level] + Slaying Point 1 [5/level]†. Notes: Perk: Enhanced Critical‡ (Slayer’s Strike) [1/level]. * See GURPS Power-Ups 8: Limitations, p. 9. † Slaying points refresh each game session, and they can only be used to activate this power-up. ‡ See p. 10. This version trades a specific skill for any skill as long as you critically succeed on your roll for Slayer’s Strike. It stacks with Enhanced Critical if you already have it for the weapon you are using with Slayer’s Strike, but has the normal maximum critical success range.

You are hard to hold! You might be slimy, molecularly smooth, or surrounded by a force field that negates friction. Each level of this trait (maximum five levels) gives +1 on all ST, DX, and Escape rolls to slip restraints, break free in close combat, or squeeze through narrow openings.

You have the power to find almost any small item you desire in an alternate world and “snatch” it across the dimensions to you. The items you snatch do not come from your own world, but from some nameless parallel; therefore, you can never intentionally take something away from a specific other person. Note that this talent does not allow you to visit alternate worlds in person - only to steal from them.

To make a snatch, you must first concentrate for 10 seconds and clearly visualize the item you want. The item must be able to fit in one hand, and cannot weigh more than 5 lbs. You should have a hand free (if your hands are tied, you roll at -3), and others can see you making “reaching” motions with that hand.

Next, make an IQ roll for the snatch attempt. If you are trying for information in any form, the GM makes this roll for you (see below). Regardless of IQ, a roll of 14 or more always fails.

On a success, the desired item appears in your hand - or sitting within arm's reach, if you prefer. On a failure, you obtain nothing. On a critical failure, you snatched the wrong item! This item is not immediately dangerous unless you were trying for something dangerous.

Regardless of success or failure, each snatch attempt costs 2 FP.

In theory, you can get anything. In practice, some things are so hard to find that it is little use trying for them. You have a good chance of getting any item that exists, or that ever existed, in your own world - or any reasonably similar item. If the desired item is unusual, the GM may apply a penalty to the IQ roll:

Item is significantly different from anything that ever appeared in your own world: -1 or more (GM's option). You could visualize “a perfect diamond, bright green, the size of a hen's egg, carved into the shape of a typewriter,” but you might be rolling at -20!

Item is unique or almost unique in any one world (e.g., the Hope Diamond): -3 or worse (GM's option).

You cannot clearly visualize what you want: -4 or worse (GM's option). Even on a “success,” you might not get what you were really hoping for.

You cannot get an item that works by natural laws wholly different from those in your world. For instance, if your world is nonmagical (or has no magic that you know of), you cannot snatch a magic item, because you are unable to visualize it properly; you would get a pretty but powerless mundane item. Similarly, if you are from a low-TL world, you could not get a laser pistol; you wouldn't be able to visualize it well, and your best effort would be a broken or toy gun. (A generous GM might bend this rule on a critical success… and then let the poor Snatcher try to figure out how to use his amulet or laser pistol without killing himself.)

Information is not available except in the form of “ordinary” textbooks, reports, etc. You can grab a history book, but you can't ask for “The Book of What Happens Next in My Adventure.” Note that the GM makes the roll if information is requested. If the roll fails by 5 or more, the information comes from an alternate world with different history, physics, etc., and is wrong - maybe subtly, maybe not subtly at all!

If your snatch attempt is unsuccessful, you can immediately try to snatch the same or a similar object again. These “repeated attempts” are made at a cumulative -1 to the IQ roll. Each repeated attempt costs 4 FP instead of the usual 2 FP. To eliminate these penalties, wait one hour between attempts.

The GM should be strict about attempts to circumvent this. For instance, a “.45 pistol” is not very different from a “.357 pistol” for the purpose of this advantage. Furthermore, ignore critical successes on repeated attempts made in quick succession. If the snatch being attempted is very difficult, there is little choice but to wait an hour between attempts.

The objects you snatch remain until you voluntarily return them or use your Snatcher ability again. To keep objects indefinitely, take the Permanent enhancement (below).

Permanent: Objects you snatch don't vanish when you use your ability again. The GM is free to forbid this enhancement, as it allows a single Snatcher to amass boundless wealth by snatching small, valuable objects. +300%.

Less Weight: Your weight limit is lower than 5 lbs.

Specialized: You can only grab a certain type of object, or cannot touch a certain class of thing. Examples: Only metal, -5%; Only money, -10%;Only weapons, -10%; Only information, -20%; No metal, -20%; Only blue things, -25%. The GM sets the limitation value using the guidelines under Accessibility.

Stunning: You are mentally stunned after a successful snatch. -10%.

Unpredictable: On a failed IQ roll, you get something, but it isn't what you wanted. The worse the failure, the more different the item is. If you wanted a loaded pistol, failure by 1 might bring an unloaded pistol. Failure by 2 could mean a water pistol, failure by 3 a book on “How to Shoot,” and so on… with a critical failure bringing a live hand grenade. Any critical failure is dangerous, regardless of what you were looking for! -25%.

You have the knack of knowing exactly what to say - and when to say it - around your social “betters.” You are exempt from reaction penalties due to differences in Rank or Status. In situations where there would be no such penalty, you get +1 on reactions from those who demand respect (priests, kings, etc.). This is a cinematic advantage!

You are a member of a class, race, sex, or other group that your society holds in high regard. To be an advantage, this must be obvious to anyone who meets you. This is the opposite of Social Stigma; membership in a given social group cannot result in both Social Regard and Social Stigma.

Social Regard costs 5 points per +1 to reaction rolls, to a maximum of +4. This is not a Reputation, despite the similarities in cost and effect. You are treated well because of what you are, not because of who you are. Think of it as “privilege by association.”

The way you are treated on a good reaction roll will depend on the type of Regard:

Feared: Others will react to you much as if you had successfully used Intimidation skill. Those who like you stand aside, while those who dislike you flee rather than risk a confrontation. You are met with silent deference, and perhaps even respect, but never friendly familiarity. Examples: a god among men or an Amazon warrior.

Respected: You receive polite and obsequious deference, much as if you had high Status, regardless of your actual Status. Social interactions other than combat usually go smoothly for you - but there will be times when the kowtowing gets in the way. Examples: a member of a priest caste or a ruling race.

Venerated: Total strangers react to you in a caring way. They give up seats, let you ahead of them in lines, and receive your every word as pearls of wisdom. They also take great pains to prevent you from putting yourself in danger or even discomfort - even when you need to do so! Example: an elderly person in many societies.

Amusing: You’re naturally funny, or people are predisposed to consider you funny. This lets you get away with things that would get other people in trouble, precisely because you’re not taken seriously. A king’s fool or a class clown has this advantage. Many societies grant their children levels of this advantage (often decreasing as they get older); if so, it can coexist with Social Stigma (Minor).

You can talk normally while submerged, and you can understand what others say while underwater.

Interface Crossing: You can talk to those outside of the water while submerged, and can understand people on the surface talking to you. +50%.

You can converse with animals. The quality of information you receive depends on the beast's IQ and the GM's decision on what the animal has to say. Insects and other tiny creatures might only be able to convey emotions such as hunger and fear, while a chimp or a cat might be able to engage in a reasonably intelligent discussion. It takes one minute to ask one question and get the answer - if the animal decides to speak at all. The GM may require a reaction roll (+2 to reactions if you offer food).

The GM is free to rule that alien, unnatural, or mythical beasts don't count as “animals” for the purpose of this advantage.

Specialized: You can only communicate with certain animals. “All land animals” (including birds, insects, and land-dwelling mammals and reptiles) or “All aquatic animals” (including amphibians, fish, mollusks, crustaceans, and cetaceans) is -40%; one class (e.g., “Mammals” or “Birds”), -50%; one family (e.g., “Felines” or “Parrots”), -60%; one species (e.g., “House Cats” or “Macaws”), -80%.

You can communicate empathically with plants. All earthly plants are IQ 0, but a large tree might be “wiser” than the average ivy, at the GM's whim. A plant might know how recently it was watered or walked on, or something else that directly bears on its well-being, but would be unable to relate an overheard phone conversation. Any normal plant will always cooperate, within the limits of its ability. A mutant cabbage from Mars might require a reaction roll!

You have a unique bond with another person. This acts as a potent version of Empathy that works only with one person, without regard to distance. You always know when your partner is in trouble, in pain, lying, or in need of help, no matter where he is. This requires no IQ roll. Your partner receives the same benefits with respect to you.

Both partners in a Special Rapport must buy this advantage. Your partner need not be a lover, or even a close friend, but the GM has the final say. In particular, the GM may wish to forbid PCs from buying Special Rapports with powerful NPCs who would otherwise qualify as Patrons (or allow it, but require an Unusual Background).

Prerequisites: Inventor!.

When performing any of the tasks listed for the Inventor! wildcard skill (Champions, pp. 29-30), you can ignore up to -5 worth of penalties due to haste (Time Spent, p. B346). Level 2 lets you ignore -10 worth of penalties and effectively allows you to instantly come up with a Concept roll.

Perks: Efficient (Inventor!) [1]; Unique Technique (Speed Inventing) [1].

Techniques: Speed Inventing (H) Skill-5 [4] at level 1 or Skill+0 [10] at level 2.

Prerequisites: Lore!.

When performing any of the tasks listed under Research (The Mission, pp. 6-7), you can ignore up to -5 worth of penalties due to haste (Time Spent, p. B346). Level 2 means you find what you need right away, letting you ignore -10 worth of haste penalties!

Perks: Efficient (Lore!) [1]; Unique Technique (Speed Researching) [1].

Techniques: Speed Researching (H) Skill-5 [4] at level 1 or Skill+0 [10] at level 2.

You have sharp spines, like those of a porcupine or an echidna, located on strategic parts of your body. This is defensive weaponry, intended to discourage attackers; you cannot use your Spines actively. However, you get a DX-4 roll to hit each foe in close combat with you once per turn, as a free action. Roll at +2 against foes who attacked you from behind. Those who grapple or slam you are hit immediately and automatically - and those who slam you take maximum damage!

Short Spines: One or two inches long. Do ld-2 impaling damage. Reach C. 1 point.

Long Spines: One or two feet long. Do 1d impaling damage. Reach C. 3 points.

You are in tune with spirits, and receive the benefits of Empathy when dealing with them. You can get a feeling for the general intentions of any spirit you encounter by making a successful IQ roll. As well, your Influence skills (Diplomacy, Sex Appeal, etc.) work normally on spirits, which sets you aside from most mortals. Spirit Empathy does not prevent evil or mischievous spirits from seeking to harm you, but at the GM's option, it might make it easier to detect and counter their plots.

Specialized: You are naturally in tune with the customs and moods of one specific class of spirits. Possibilities include angels, demons, elementals, faerie, ghosts, and anything else the GM wishes to allow. -50%.

You radiate energies that completely prevent all powers of one particular source from affecting you. This extends to anything you’re carrying or wearing. Buy Static separately for each source you can negate. Possibilities include magic, psi, “generic super-powers,” and anything else the GM deems susceptible to “jamming.”

Static only interferes with attempts to affect you or your personal equipment directly. For instance, if you had Static (Psi), a psychokinetic couldn’t snatch your gun away or levitate you… but he could take control of a nearby sword and hit you with it, or drop a ton of rocks on your head.

Static affects friendly and hostile abilities equally. For example, Static (Magic) prevents you from using magic items or receiving beneficial spells, while Static (Psi) blocks the psionic Healing power.

You can never possess the abilities or Talent of any power you can negate.

Area Effect: Your Static extends into an area centered on you. The first level of Area Effect gives you a radius of a yard. Each level after that doubles this radius. +50%/level.

Discriminatory: Your Static only interferes with hostile powers. Friendly abilities and artifacts function totally unimpeded on you and within your area of effect (although you still can’t possess powers you can negate). The definitions of “friendly” and “hostile” are up to you, and can fluctuate from second to second. If you have Area Effect, Discriminatory replaces Selective Area. +150%.

Switchable: You can switch your Static off to allow friendly abilities to affect you or operate within your area of effect. Turning Static off or on requires a Ready maneuver. It’s up to you whether it switches on or off when you’re knocked out, or simply remains in its current state; set this when you buy the ability. If you have Discriminatory, you don’t need Switchable. +100%.

Resistible: Your ability isn’t absolute. Enemies can “burn” through your Static and affect those protected by it by winning a Quick Contest of Will with you. If the attacking ability already requires a Quick Contest of some kind, the attacker rolls only once, but the target gets +5 to resist. -50%.

Be sure to weigh the pros and cons of Static against those of other specialized defenses such as Mana Damper, Mind Shield, Obscure, and Resistant. Take Neutralize to interfere directly with a foe’s powers rather than their effects.

Static is appropriate primarily for dedicated anti-powers (see Anti-Powers, p. 20). There’s no “preferred” source, although Static is most traditional for psionic powers and superpowers. No power can have Static with respect to itself, however. Talent applies mainly to Power Block attempts (Powers, p. 168), but also adds to Will rolls made for the Resistible special limitation.

(see Status)

High Status is an advantage, and should be noted on your character sheet.

You can stretch your body in any direction. Each level of Stretching lets you increase your effective SM by +1 with any body part without increasing your overall SM. You can elongate your arms to increase reach (but not swinging damage, as Stretching gives no extra mass or muscle), your legs to negotiate obstacles, your neck to see over barriers, etc. For more information, see Size Modifier and Reach. Your body parts grow or shrink at the rate of ± 1 SM per second.

By itself, Stretching is ideal for machines with telescoping manipulators. A super with a “rubber body” should add some combination of Elastic Skin, Double-Jointed, Morph, and Super Jump.

You have a body part that you can use to strike an aimed blow, but not to manipulate objects (see Extra Arms) or walk on (see Extra Legs). This might be a set of horns or protruding tusks, a heavy tail, a stinger, or any number of other natural weapons.

Your Striker can attack at reach C (“close combat only”), inflicting thrust damage at +1 per die; e.g., 2d-l becomes 2d+1. Damage is crushing or piercing for 5 points, large piercing for 6 points, cutting for 7 points, or impaling for 8 points. See Innate Attack for details.

Roll against DX or Brawling to hit with your Striker. You can also use it to parry as if you had a weapon. Use the higher of (DX/2) + 3 or your Brawling parry.

Long: Your Striker is long relative to your body. This increases your effective SM for the purpose of calculating reach (see Size Modifier and Reach). +100% per +1 to SM if you can attack at any reach from C to maximum, or +75% per +1 to SM if you can only attack at maximum reach (and never in close combat).

Swing Damage: The Strikers' damage is based on Swing instead of Thrust. +50%.

Cannot Parry: You cannot parry with your Striker. -40%.

Clumsy: Your Striker is unusually inaccurate. This is common for tails and similar Strikers aimed from outside your usual arc of vision. -20% per -1 to hit.

Limited Arc: Your Striker can only attack straight ahead, straight behind, etc. Specify a direction when you buy the Striker. If your target isn't in the right place, and you cannot maneuver to put him there, you cannot attack him at all. -40%.

Weak: Your Striker is unusually blunt or light, or simply incapable of using your full ST. It inflicts only basic thrust damage, without the +1 per die. -50%.

Prerequisite: Trained by a Master.

Martial artists can smash their shins into palm trees or metal poles to turn them into deadly weapons. Represent this with Striker (Crushing; Shin, -20%) [4]. The special limitation works as follows:

Shin: Your crushing Striker isn’t a new body part – it’s just your shin. The sole effect is that you can throw kicks that enjoy +1 per die of damage. -20%.

You can strike more powerful blows than your ST score would indicate. Add Striking ST to base ST solely for the purpose of calculating thrust and swing damage (see Damage Table). Striking ST has no effect on HP or Basic Lift. If you bought your ST with the No Fine Manipulators or Size limitation, apply the same limitation(s) to Striking ST.

One Attack Only: The Striking ST benefits only one specific natural attack. This is almost always a bite for zombies, but constructs and mutants with Claws, Strikers, etc. may specify those things instead. -60%.

Prerequisite: Trained by a Master or Weapon Master.

Cinematic martial artists who can hit even harder than their size suggests may have up to two levels of this advantage. It adds to ST for armed and unarmed strikes in melee combat, but never for grappling of any sort.

Ninjas may instead opt to have up to five levels with the following limitation:

Assassination: Your extra oomph is explained by careful preparation and knowledge of physiology – not by physical conditioning. Thus, this ST only boosts surprise attacks, including ambushes arranged via Stealth and blows from behind. If your victim receives an active defense, even at -4 for being stunned, you can’t claim this bonus. -60%.

You can hear very low-frequency sounds (under 40 Hz), such as the rumble of distant storms, the vibrations from incipient earthquakes, and the approach of stampeding herd beasts, armored vehicles, or dragons. This gives +1 to Tracking skill if your quarry is moving on the ground. Cost depends on your capabilities:

You can hear very low-frequency sounds only: 0 points.

You can hear very low-frequency sounds and other sounds: 5 points.

Note that Subsonic Hearing is included in the cost of Subsonic Speech (below); you cannot take both traits.

You can converse using extremely low-frequency sounds. This trait includes Subsonic Hearing, above. Subsonic speech is slow (half-speed), and even if the frequency is shifted into the normal range, subsonic speakers are at -2 to Fast-Talk and any other skill where versatile speaking is important. However, subsonic speech carries twice as far as normal speech. Cost depends on your capabilities:

You can only communicate via Subsonic Speech: 0 points.

You can switch between regular speech and Subsonic Speech at will: 10 points.

You can climb very quickly. Each level of Super Climbing gives you +1 Move when climbing or using the Clinging advantage.

You can make superhuman leaps! Each level of Super Jump doubles the distance and height you can achieve when jumping (see Jumping, p. 352).

Your Move while jumping is the greater of your normal ground Move and 1/5 your maximum long jump distance (thus, your maximum jump never takes more than five seconds). For instance, if your long jump were 100 yards, your jumping Move would be the greater of 20 and your normal ground Move.

You can jump at a foe in order to slam him. Figure the slam at your maximum jumping Move! You don't need to make a separate roll to jump accurately.

Finally, if you fall a distance less than or equal to your maximum high jump, you take no damage. You can increase this distance by five yards with a successful Acrobatics roll.

You are not just lucky - you have limited control over probability. Once per hour of play, you may dictate the result of any one die roll you make (or the GM makes for you) instead of rolling the dice. Wholly impossible attempts cannot succeed (your effective skill level must be at least 3), but you can choose any result that would be possible - however improbable - on a single normal die roll.

You can have Super Luck and any degree of “normal” Luck, but no one can take Super Luck more than once!

Like a vampire or psycho killer from a horror movie, you can “shake off” most wounds. Injury comes off HP as usual, and you suffer knockback, but you are completely immune to shock, physical stun, and knockout. You don't need High Pain Threshold - this ability includes that one, and is far more potent!

As long as you have 0 or more HP, you are also immune to crippling injuries, and have your full Move. Below 0 HP, you are at half Move, and can be crippled, but you won't die unless you are wounded by an attack to which you are specifically vulnerable (see below). The sole exception to this is a single attack that inflicts an injury of 10xHP or more. That much damage at once will blow you apart, killing you.

To die, you must first be wounded to -HP or worse. After that, one specific item can kill you. You must specify this when you buy Supernatural Durability. Valid categories appear under Limited Defenses (above); the item that can kill you must be of “Occasional” rarity or higher. If wounds from this item ever reduce your HP to the point where a normal human would have to make HT rolls to survive, you must make those HT rolls or die. If this item wounds you to -5xHP, you die automatically. If you are already below -5xHP from other damage, any wound from this item will kill you. Any item to which you have a Vulnerability can also kill you in this way.

You have a natural aptitude for a set of closely related skills. “Talents” come in levels, and give the following benefits:

• A bonus of +1 per level with all affected skills, even for default use. This effectively raises your attribute scores for the purpose of those skills only; thus, this is an inexpensive way to be adept at a small class of skills. (Generalists will find it more cost-effective to raise attributes.)
• A bonus of +1 per level on all reaction rolls made by anyone in a position to notice your Talent, if he

would be impressed by your aptitude (GM's judgment). To receive this bonus, you must demonstrate your Talent - most often by using the affected skills.

• A reduction in the time required to learn the affected skills in play, regardless of how you learn them. Reduce the time required by 10% per level of Talent; e.g., Animal Friend 2 would let you learn animal-related skills in 80% the usual time. This has no effect on the point cost of your skills.

You may never have more than four levels of a particular Talent. However, overlapping Talents can give skill bonuses (only) in excess of +4.

The cost of a Talent depends on the size of the group of skills affected:

• Small (6 or fewer related skills): 5 points/level.
• Medium (7 to 12 related skills): 10 points/level.
• Large (13 or more related skills): 15 points/level.

Skills with multiple specialties are considered to be one skill for this purpose. Once you buy a Talent, the list of affected skills is fixed. (Exception: The GM may rule that a Talent affects new skills appearing in later GURPS supplements, or skills he invents in the course of the campaign, if the Talent would logically be of value to those skills.)

The following Talents are examples of what might be available: