Psimotive Powers
Psimotive powers are those that involve various aspects of space and time - namely, the scaffolding of existence around a character. This discipline of power is dedicated to understanding how space and time work on a body, the better to sense various aspects of it, to travel through space, time, dimension, or thought, or to even control these aspects of existence to some extent.
Psimotive arts are extensive super-human abilities. Using these powers, their wielders can cross space, time, or planes - when not leaving such quaint 'lower dimensional' concepts in the dust. Instead of just crossing such barriers to adventure, however, a psimotive individual can use their arts to actually control these facets of reality - rapidly rendering most opponents ineffectual!
Talents of the psimotive variety aren't quite so reality-bending as the arts, but are about the last thing one wishes to underestimate. These abilities can be used to manipulate smaller portions of the 'big picture' items that arts cover, and are various specialties the previous don't overtly cover - whether teleporting things around, opening portals for offense or defense, or even isolating things from reality.
Psimotive skills aren't necessarily something one can use to bend causality to their will, but are nonetheless incredibly useful to any psi. A lot of these are sensory abilities involving the location of oneself or other items, or even oneself relative to other items. Various psimotive skills are also utilitarian in nature, allowing for a quick escape from danger or even reversing the effects of time on oneself!
There are thirty-seven known psimotive abilities thus far, all of which are assembled here for ease of use. The idea is to warehouse these in one location for convenience, should one wish to produce a psi focusing on the psimotive discipline (without the other eight disciplines of power clogging up the page). The following is a summary of these psimotive powers, both large and small:
| A | B | C | D | G | I | L | M | N | O | P | Q | S | T | U |
A
Age Control / Others
Type: Empathic Talent, Psimotive Talent
Duration: instantaneous effect
Cost: 1 point per rank
Wielding this ability, a character can change the 'clock' on an organism, seemingly altering its age. Age control / others can increase or decrease a target's apparent age by a number of years that is equal to its power rank number. This power only functions within Very Near distance of its wielder, and targets may resist the power if they can pass an Endurance (res) ACTION roll against its rank as an opposing intensity.
Age control / others can modify the age of its target as is desired, though the effects of such sudden, onset aging are rapidly debilitating. On average, a character will lose -1 CS of one physical and one mental ability score for each decade of aging past their 'prime'. If reverting someone to a child-like state, apply this -1 CS for every four years before they reached adulthood.
Of course, there's also the lovely side effects that such extremes of age can bring, including brittle bones, being unable to reach the pedals, etc.
If a character is aged so old that they should be long dead and buried, or is rendered so young that their age would be a negative number, they will simply vanish in a puff of light and smoke. This doesn't actually kill the target, so much as file them and their mass away in another dimension temporarily, their existence having momentarily been rendered moot.
The effects of age control / others generally only lasts for a short period of time. A green power ACTION will let the power's effects last a number of turns equal to its power rank number, while a yellow ACTION roll multiplies this amount of time by ten, and a red ACTION extends it to a like number of hours. It occasionally lasts longer, however, acting to permanently renew, revitalize, or hobble its target.
Occurrences of this stripe are most often accompanied by other weird happenings going on with the character at the same time, such as radiation exposure, Probability Fallout, and the like. They're not the sort of thing one can really bank on in play, they just sort of 'happen'; an instance of permanent age modification is most likely something the Judge will use to advance the plot somehow.
Mind you, this effect can be obtained regularly as an extreme enhancement to age control / others. Such enhancements often take the form of revolutionary, futuristic aging treatments, the weird emanations of 'exotic' matter characters might blunder into, or other such oddities. Aging too far either direction in a 'permanent' state is considered a lethal attack, however - something to bear in mind.
Age Control / Self
Type: Metapsi Skill, Psimotive Skill
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 1 point per rank
The curious ability of age control allows its possessor to, for all intents and purposes, alter his or her apparent age. One may do so, in either direction, by a number of years equal to this power's rank number. There is no upper limit to the age a character can assume, though certain extremes can be increasingly dangerous. Advanced age makes one particularly injury-prone, while a prenatal state makes one helpless.
While at a differing age, one gains all the benefits and penalties of such a change. One might receive a senior citizen discount while roaming around as a centenarian, but they'd be more likely to fall and break a hip. Similarly, being incredibly young might let someone get away with things that an adult otherwise couldn't, though they're also less physically capable at the same time.
If a character possessing longevity uses this ability, their age will be altered as if they did not have that ability in the first place (otherwise, the two powers would be mutually exclusive).
Aggregation
Type: Psimotive Talent
Duration: instantaneous effect
Cost: 1 point per rank
Aggregation is the ability to summon forth materials from far and wide, collecting them in a single location. Said materials can be just about anything the character desires, as long as they actually exist, at least, ranging from a glass of water to a pile of gold to a mountain of gophers! In lieu of matter generation or transmutation, aggregation is a great way to assemble materials for a given project - and fast!
This power can draw forth all kinds of items or substances, within a few constraints. The first is that aggregation can only aggregate a finite amount of material at a time. Each turn aggregation is used, it may collect its power rank number in pounds from the surrounding environment. If a character wishes to aggregate a larger amount of material, he or she simply has to spend the appropriate number of turns.
For example, let us say Carl the Constructor is attempting to gather materials for a new project he has in mind with his Excellent (20) ranked aggregation. He intends to build a gleaming skyscraper out on his vast plot of land in Arizona. To start with, Carl aggregates the readily available materials required to create the concrete foundation - and can summon forth twenty pounds of it each turn, until he has what he needs.
Aggregation's second constraint is that the substance in question must actually be present within range of this power's wielder for it to function properly; aggregation works on desired items or substances within Middle range of its possessor. If there isn't enough of whatever the character is looking for, the power will 'only' collect every last scrap of the desired material within range.
As Carl's construction proceeds apace, he finds himself thinking that an osmium alloy frame for his building would be awesome. The problem is that there isn't that much osmium on the earth - particularly within his nominal twenty area (half mile) range. Making a ruling, the Judge decides that he collects every last bit of osmium within a twenty area sphere, and generously dumps a few grams of the metal at Carl's feet.
The third limitation of aggregation is that it cannot summon parts of (i.e., disassemble) a continuous object. This can be a problem if the only source of whatever the character is aggregating is in a chunk larger than they can manage in one turn. To agglomerate larger objects, the possessor of this power must focus it on them for a number of turns equal to their weight divided by its power rank number.
When the osmium idea fell through, Carl decided to go with an ordinary steel frame for his modern tower. Luckily, the land he bought was relatively well-populated with iron ore, and he gained a large amount of it somewhat quickly. However, the final chunk of available iron was all lumped together in a one-ton mass. To aggregate this lump of metal, Carl had to focus his power on it for one hundred turns!
The complexity of what the character is attempting to aggregate will determine the difficulty of the required ACTION roll. A green ACTION can conjure forth simple substances, ranging from atomic gold to A+ blood. Yellow power ACTION rolls are necessary when collecting manufactured items, whether they be a pile of pennies or the latest smartphones. Red power ACTIONs can even summon living beings, if the character wants!
Most of the materials Carl was attempting to aggregate for the eventual construction of his tower were inert, mundane compounds, so he only required green power ACTIONs when drawing them forth. However, that last bit of metal was surprisingly difficult to collect, requiring a yellow power ACTION. Imagine Carl's shock when, upon the execution of this power, that lump of metal turned out to be an alien probe buried on his land!
Anchor
Type: Psimotive Skill
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 1 point per rank
By means of the anchor ability, a character binds themselves to their current trajectory in seven-dimensional space. What this means is that, once anchor is invoked, its wielder will continue to move as he or she was before, and cannot easily be dislodged from said movement. Typically, this is used to root a body in place, on say a floor, wall, or ceiling, to hold them steady for other purposes.
So what's all this business about trajectory? No matter where you are in the world, you're always moving. While standing motionless, your body is still on a planetary body that is rotating while orbiting a star that is itself circling a galactic core, etc. You're also continually moving through time, albeit at the same rate everyone else usually is.
Anchor merely ensures you don't stray from this path, as the ability sees it, from its point of activation. This means that upon being invoked, anchor will prevent you from being swayed from your current course, whether you were stationary or on the move. It also keeps you from being shifted in time or space - or through other dimensions. Defeating an anchor requires overwhelming its power rank.
While using anchor in a (relatively) stationary position is a simple proposition, using it while on the move can be fraught with peril, especially if you encounter items in your path. Loose objects, like water, bowling pins, or even people, will simply be shoved out of the way. But a larger object, such as a concrete bunker, will not. Resolve such collisions per a charging attack, based on the anchor power rank.
If the MS of this object or structure exceeds the rank of the anchor ability, it will disrupt the anchor and cause it to immediately fail. Either way, the anchored character is immune to the damage caused by such attacks, which allows them to (with an anchor power of high enough rank) inflict serious damage on large and inanimate objects ranging from trees to battleships.
Antigravity
Type: Psimotive Talent
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 1 point per rank
With gravity being defined as the attractive force that all matter exerts on other matter, antigravity is thus a repulsive force, working instead to push all matter away. In its basic form, antigravity can be used to apply this repulsive force to any objects its wielder desires, as long as they are within Near distance of their person. This force overcomes gravity and acts to separate these objects with power rank strength.
Antigravity can be applied in a field effect, covering everything within range, or simply made to work on discrete objects. This lends itself to a wide variety of uses, from violently pushing an attacker away from oneself to casting all loose objects in the area far into the sky! Moving targets can avoid this effect with a dodge maneuver, if specifically targeted, as this power requires an Agility ACTION to affect them.
In addition to the basic effects of this power, antigravity can be used to develop the following (and more) power stunts:
* Antigravity Well: instead of making the repulsive power of antigravity work between two or more objects, the wielder of this power can simply craft an antigravity well. This is one object that exerts antigravity on everything around it, thus acting as a repulsion field of power rank strength. Depending on relative masses between objects involved, the antigravity well may be caused to 'bounce' all over the area.
* Damage Reduction / Deflection: by projecting antigravitational waves, the character with this power can blunt both the accuracy and intensity of damage delivered through a physical medium. This applies to most physical attacks, save for perhaps Force damage, unless it is delivered by a material medium (such as a column of air). This stunt usually applies 1 CS of both forms of mitigation (unless bought at a higher level, that is).
* Flight: by making one's body emit antigravity until it overwhelms local gravity conditions, the character with this power can achieve flight! This effect works at the power rank -1 CS, as some energy is lost simply resisting the tug of the earth (or whatever surface is close by). A character with antigravity can steer by projecting antigravitational energy in the direction opposite their intended destination.
* Repulsor Beam: refining one's antigravity into a concussive pulse, the possessor of this ability can simulate the effects of the force blast power. This blast of repulsive energy inflicts Force damage on whatever it hits, and is also quite likely to inflict a Slam result as well. If the damage inflicted is higher than the weight intensity of the target, he or she must check against a Slam even if such a result was not rolled!
B
Banishment
Type: Psimotive Art
Duration: instantaneous effect
Cost: 3 points per rank
A drastic measure to be sure, banishment involves physically ejecting a body from their current plane of existence. While this may seem extreme, it beats killing someone outright, while getting them out of your hair at the same time - possibly for the rest of your life. To dispose of a target, a banisher must pass a power ACTION against the Psyche (will) of their foe (or an anchor, if its rank is higher).
If this ACTION is successful, the target is flung from the universe entirely - but where to? To determine this, roll a second power ACTION. If this second ACTION fails, the banisher has merely 'skipped' the target out of our realm of existence for 1d10 turns, and he or she will bounce back to cause further trouble as soon as that duration has expired. Not nearly as permanent a solution as promised, which you can see.
A green ACTION, on the other hand, will remove the target from this plane of existence, returning them to their plane of origin. This is a good tool against extradimensional invaders, but what of people who are native to the plane the banisher is on? They will be ejected per a failed ACTION, but will remain out of 'sync' with the current space-time for 1d100 turns, instead. A bit longer, but still less than permanent.
A yellow ACTION roll will achieve a permanent banishing. What this does is bounce the target to another, random dimension. Which one? Nobody knows, really. The whole idea is to simply get rid of a body, not to point them in a specific direction here. Banishment could transport them to an idyllic heaven or perhaps a realm wholly hostile to life as we know it. But, without an actual body to speak of, who will ever know?
A red ACTION, now, this is where the banisher can do specific things. A red banishment ACTION allows the banisher to not only remove a troublesome target from his or her personal space, but also allows them to deposit said target wherever they would like. Maybe he or she knows of a specific universe (or part of one) that is nigh-impossible to escape from, or one that is just too pleasant for their foes to ever want to leave.
Of course, a banisher can 'pull their punches' with this ability, if they don't want to permanently cast someone off into the multiverse beyond. That is rather harsh, after all, and it tends to tick off the banished person's friends - not to mention the actual banished target, who is likely going to be very, very angry at the banisher. And if they can ever find their way back home, you know things are going to get ugly!
Between
Type: Psimotive Art
Duration: instantaneous effect
Cost: 2 points per rank
The seventh dimension is a bizarre place, a location that is both everywhere and between everywhere else simultaneously. At the center of the multiverse and yet seemingly outside it at the same time, this place is the undiluted source of higher principles that are distilled into distinct planes of existence. Such realms include the astral plane, the essence, and various other mindspaces both transient and permanent.
Colloquially known as the Between, this level of reality is the absolute blender of creation. One can find all things within the Between, if they look hard enough, as the seventh dimension is a realm of the mind as much as it is of the body. A mishmash of space, time, matter, energy, and thought, the Between is an ever-changing maelstrom that is never the same from one visit to the next - much less from moment to moment!
The reason for this chaotic existence is that everything that is, was, and ever will be is present in the Between in some capacity or another - since every point in lower, sixth-dimensional space is represented here. Also, as these points are all present and simultaneously occupied when in the Between, it can be used to reach a specific location in lower dimensions - assuming one has the proper abilities to do so.
Thanks to its unique properties, one can extend the range of non-adjacent movement abilities while in the Between to an infinite degree. Teleportation can reach anywhere in the universe. Time travel can visit any moment in existence. Dimensional transit can move a body to any reality that exists - and possibly some that don't yet. In this fashion, Between is something of a meta-power, enhancing others considerably.
But this infinite utility comes with infinite risk. One might find the Between a pleasant park on their first visit, and overrun with incomprehensible tentacular horrors the next. Alternately, one might be whisked away to unknown locations in the multiverse upon arriving in the Between, events there overcoming even the most seasoned traveler and stranding him or her somewhere they can't escape from before they know it.
This is where the actual power rank for this ability comes in. A successful power ACTION is required to access the Between. Then, a second ACTION roll is made - this time, by the Judge. If this supplemental power ACTION is successful, nothing directly untoward will happen to the player - or anyone he or she brought along for the ride. If it fails, however, get ready for the time of your (possibly very short) life!
This power is a doorway to endless adventure, you see, whether one wants it or not. Thus, it is the ultimate 'use at your own risk' ability - though sometimes the staggering advantages of using between almost make up for the risk such use poses to one's body and soul. Sometimes.
Bilocation
Type: Psimotive Skill
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 1 point per rank
Bilocation is the ability to appear in two locations simultaneously. This power does not involve actually splitting oneself in two so much as engaging in rapid-fire teleportation, hundreds of times each second, so that it looks like the wielder of this power is occupying two different spaces at once. This process occurs quickly enough that, like the frames of a television image, the character seems to be fully present at each.
When bilocation is activated, the character's 'other self' can initially manifest anywhere within Far distance of his or her original location. When the power is terminated, the bilocator may rest at either their original location or the area their 'other self' was last in when deactivating this ability. This makes bilocation a great power stunt off of teleportation - or vice versa, really.
A bilocated character may act in one location primarily, or alternate actions between the two, depending on the situation(s) at the time. Either way, he or she does not receive additional actions simply due to being in both areas simultaneously - there's still just one of the character. Without other abilities added to the mix, the bilocator is merely allowed the same amount of actions they would normally be allotted.
When engaging in bilocation, a character will perceive sensory input from both locations simultaneously, the two (usually) differing forms of data overlapping and allowing the character to multitask. If things are particularly hectic in one (or both) locations, a bilocator may need to pass an Intuition (alt) ACTION roll to keep events at the two different places distinct in his or her head.
Multitasking is difficult enough to begin with, even before adding the specter of deadly combat into the mix.
C
Chaos Shift
Type: Psimotive Talent
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 8 points (flat cost)
Chaos shifting is a specialized movement ability one can directly use to great effect in combat. In battle, the chaos shifter can rapidly pop in and out of either space and/or time around his or her foe, depending on their power set and the player's desire. This has the practical effect of making him or her much harder to target by others, while at the same time giving them something of an advantage against their opponent.
In game terms, this translates into a +1 CS bonus to hit against the foe one chaos shifts around, while inflicting a -1 CS penalty on others' attempts to strike him or her. The former only applies to a targeting roll by the chaos shifter, while the latter applies to any ACTION made against them. This is because, after spending half of the turn outside this space-time, a chaos shifter is harder to grasp with most powers.
Compass Sense
Type: Psimotive Skill
Duration: instantaneous effect
Cost: 4 points (flat cost)
A character with a compass sense can determine the direction they are headed relative to the space they currently occupy, in a full seven dimensions. This is slightly different from the locational sense in that it is not based on an arbitrary point chosen by the character, so much as whatever structures surround his or her person, either on the local or the macroscopic level.
The simplest uses of a compass sense involve determining which directions are north, south, east, west, up, or down on a planetary body when necessary. This focus can be narrowed, however, to find if one is headed towards port or starboard on a ship (not easy when one is inside it), whether one is headed towards the front or rear of a structure, or even what direction in time one is headed!
D
Defensive Portals
Type: Psimotive Talent
Duration: instantaneous effect
Cost: 1 point per rank
Defensive portals are just that, one-way rifts in space-time created for the express purpose of protecting oneself from injury. Only energy can pass through these unidirectional holes in the universe, not matter. Thus, a burst of radiation directed at this power's wielder would be completely shunted elsewhere, while only the energy from a hail of bullets would be, the actual projectiles landing in a pile at his or her feet.
A defensive portal provides power rank protection against incoming attacks that are comprised purely of energy, though this protection is reduced by -1 CS if the damage from an attack is delivered through a physical medium (whether from bullets, a hammer, or even a fist). The wielder of this power must perform a shield maneuver with it to acquire the indicated protection.
But where does all this energy go? It's hard to say, really. It may be shunted into a realm of potential energy, or perhaps into a large mass such as an asteroid or even the Sun. Or something even stranger may occur, and a defensive portal may redirect the energies it blocks into the offensive portals wielded by others now and then (possibly making for a highly random string of attacks with that ability).
Dimensional Displacement
Type: Psimotive Art
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 1 point per rank
Dimensional displacement is the ability to shunt one or more of a body's dimensions into the Between.
Most often, this is used to displace one's spatial dimensions (length, width, or height). When one of these dimensions is so displaced, the character with this ability can easily slip through conventional matter, as they're actually far thinner than mere atoms. This can have a devastating effect on matter, however, the passage of the character with a displaced dimension downgrading its structural integrity.
When moving through something with displaced spatial dimensions, a character will inflict AI Edged Attack damage on it. Furthermore, inanimate objects may be destroyed if they fail an MS check against this power's rank (a check which is never automatic), while living targets will usually suffer SD damage as well; this is caused by the disruption of biological systems by this power, excessive bleeding, and so on.
Shunting temporal dimensions is trickier. By displacing one's fourth dimension, a character can skip forwards in time, as if using a highly constrained time travel power. While bereft of the fourth dimension, a character experiences no time, instantly traversing the temporal gap they have created. In other words, one must decide how much time to skip in advance - and they better be sure, because this is a one-way trip!
A fifth-dimensional displacement is even stranger, as it suppresses the mooring one has to a specific timeline. When shunting one's fifth dimension, a character will slip out of his or her timeline entirely, usually landing in another - which may not be an improvement in their situation. Furthermore, the character has no control over this travel, and must develop such if they ever wish to find their way back.
Finally, a sixth-dimensional suppression has the effect of dislodging a character from the universe they currently occupy. This aspect of the power may drop someone in another plane entirely - though again, the character has no control over precisely which reality they'll manifest within. Without developing such control (as a power stunt, perhaps), the dimensionally displaced character must find another way home.
Mind you, this all assumes one is displacing only one of their physical or temporal dimensions. One can compress their existence into naught but a single point if desired, though this is considered a power stunt. When in such a state, one cannot interact with anything else in the multiverse save for other entities that have achieved a zero-dimensional state - making it a great way to hide from everything!
Dimensional Interface
Type: Psimotive Art
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 2 points per rank
This potent ability allows a character to literally transform his or her very body into a hole in the space-time continuum. What this means is that they become a walking, talking opening between our universe and somewhere else. While the dimensional interface is active, the character using this ability is equidistant between the connected planes, and is technically resident upon both at the same time.
This allows them to perceive events on both simultaneously, and they can perform actions on one or the other, as they see fit. Furthermore, they can use this ability to naturally cross from one to the other entirely; this just involves 'leaning' into the second plane when terminating the power, even if it was initiated on the first. While this is a creative way to cross the planes, one may ask just what the benefit of this ability is, otherwise.
Its main purpose is to allow passage from one plane to another. Others can step 'through' the character maintaining a dimensional interface, as if he or she were a living, breathing doorway between the planes. Furthermore, the interfaced character can move materials and energy between the two realms they're connected to at will, doing so with an intensity equal to this ability's rank.
What this means is, a dimensionally interfaced character can channel 'stuff' from one realm to another, wielding this ability as a versatile attack. They can project whatever matter or energy is available from one side to the other, using this ability to inflict its rank in damage, of a type that is dependent on what is hurled through. This can be almost anything, depending on the nature of the dimensions interfaced.
For instance, if connected to the astral plane, a character could emit spectral flames from their very body. Alternately, if interfaced with a realm that is naught but solid matter, they can project that instead, inflicting Blunt or Edged Attack damage, depending on its shape. This action can work either way, and an interfaced character can draw things from the 'real' world into this new plane, though this requires physical contact.
An important thing to keep in mind is that a character that is interfaced between two dimensions is only 'material' on one at a time - the one they're presently acting upon. Our hero interfacing with the astral plane, above, would be intangible there (per that ability) when channeling spectral flames into the 'real' world, but would be easily touched (or attacked) in our own space-time while they're emitting said flames here.
He or she can achieve intangibility on both as a power stunt, but cannot act on either in such a state (though people and matter can pass through them still, albeit at a non-damaging velocity / intensity). Additional power stunts involve connecting to additional universes. When a character begins play, they can only interface with one other dimension to start with, and an additional dimension may be acquired with each stunt.
Dimensional Transit
Type: Psimotive Art
Duration: instantaneous effect
Cost: 1 point per rank
When wielding this ability, a character may move from the universe he or she is currently occupying to another. Dimensional transit functions almost identically to teleportation, except that it utilizes more physical axes; after using this ability, a character may actually occupy the same three 'classical' dimensional coordinates, but their location in either the fifth or sixth dimension has shifted.
Changing one's 5th axis allows a character to access variant timelines, while altering their 6th axis lets them move to different universes sharing the same timeline. When a character with this ability begins play, they may initially access two universes: their home plane and another realm of their choosing. They may add further planes of existence down the line as power stunts, one for each new universe they wish to visit.
When a character is attempting a stunt to 'learn' a new universe, follow the basic procedure here. A red ACTION roll is necessary when accessing a universe intentionally for the first time, yellow ACTIONs are required when traveling to realms experienced intentionally more than once, but less than six times, and green ACTION rolls are needed to access a plane for the sixth through the tenth time.
Once a character has attempted to stunt a new universe ten times, it is considered familiar, and they only require a green ACTION to access it thereafter - as is the case with their two initial planes. On the other hand, accessing a completely random universe requires no ACTION roll; the character will appear in any other plane the Judge desires, but at least they're no longer where they were (great for emergency escapes).
A character may transit from one dimension to another with passengers and/or cargo if they wish, but is limited in how much matter he or she may move. This limit is based on the power rank, as if it were a Strength score. In other words, a hero with Excellent (20) ranked dimensional transit may carry up to 800 lbs. with them, while a villain possessing this ability at Incredible (40) rank can bring up to ten tons along for the ride.
G
Gravity Control
Type: Psimotive Art
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 1 point per rank
The power to control gravity allows its wielder to manipulate the attractive force that matter exerts on other matter. Such force is never generated by the gravity controller - he or she is simply manipulating that which is already present in their environment. The simplest application of this power is in regards to the gravitational attraction between the earth (or whatever planet one is on) and the many objects on its surface.
A gravity controller can manipulate this attraction with power rank effectiveness, either multiplying or dividing the effective weight of an object within his or her radius of effect (as is determined by the Near range table) by their power rank number. An Amazing (50) ranked gravity control, then, could effectively reduce the weight of a two hundred pound object to four pounds - or increase it to ten thousand pounds!
When attempting to move against an enhanced gravity field, a character must pass a Strength ACTION against their new weight intensity or be held, immobile, wherever it overcame them. In a pinch, a character can apply other ranks against the intensity of this heightened gravity, such as a movement power's, said character using that power as an active resistance to the gravitational forces arrayed against them.
On the other hand, characters wandering into a reduced gravity field gain several Strength-based benefits. Recalculate a character's leaping ability based on their new weight in a low gravity zone. Also, with objects experiencing a greatly reduced weight, characters can move things much easier; a two ton truck affected by that Amazing gravity control, above, would weigh a measly eighty pounds!
While quite useful 'as is', gravity control lends itself to a large variety of advanced effects. Each advanced use of gravity control can each be mastered as a power stunt, representing the character's increasingly intricate manipulation of this fundamental force of nature. A short list of common gravity control power stunts is included below, but is by no means exhaustive in nature:
* Acute Attraction: enhancing the attraction between two specific objects will cause them to move towards each other - though the lighter object of the two will typically shift more. If a building became attractive enough to a person, he or she could walk up its sides instead of climbing. Similarly, if used between an aircraft and a person, that individual could walk on any of its surfaces as if they were solid ground!
* Attractor Beam: by focusing his or her will on an object, a gravity controller can increase the attraction gravity holds between it and, say, their hand. In this fashion, they can crudely simulate telekinesis, forcing the object to leap into their palm! To prevent the effects of an attractor beam, if the object is held by another, the owner of the object must pass a Strength (mgt) ACTION against this power rank.
* Flight: by rendering oneself nigh-weightless and then increasing attractive forces between oneself and other matter in the area (even air), one can achieve flight, after a fashion. A character flying via gravity control can do so at their power rank -1 CS speed, maintaining such movement as long as they can actively concentrate on bending gravity in their favor.
* Gravity Well: by drastically increasing the gravitational forces an object projects, a gravity controller can make it a 'magnet' of sorts for all matter within range. Anything within Very Near distance of the gravity well will fall into it, which in and of itself doesn't cause damage. What does cause damage is collisions with objects already in a gravity well when one falls into it (treat as falling damage).
* Levitation: gravity control can be used to make objects levitate - either their own body or anything else. This is done by almost negating the weight of an object, and then increasing the attraction of any matter above it (even the air). An animate target can attempt to avoid this effect by dodging this use of the power; if the gravity controller misses, they just levitate air where the target was.
I
Initiative Control
Type: Psimotive Talent
Duration: instantaneous effect
Cost: 2 points per rank
Normally, initiative is determined by having each character roll one d10, and adding whatever initiative modifier they have to the result. However, using the initiative control ability, its wielder can interrupt the nature of this essential game mechanic, slightly twisting time into knots to benefit themselves or others - or alternately, to the detriment of their enemies!
On a green power ACTION roll, an initiative controller can change the placement of one character's order in the sequence of events. This can be themselves or anyone else, and said placement may be anywhere they desire (first, last, etc.). A yellow ACTION roll allows the initiative controller to reconfigure the initiative of everyone present, friend and foe alike, causing actions to take place where they dictate in a given turn.
A red initiative control power ACTION allows a more serious temporal change. With this level of success, the initiative controller may add an action to one's rotation in a given turn, or alternately take one of their actions away! The idea is that this will balance out eventually, of course, the person with the added action slowing down later to compensate, or the person whose action was stolen getting two sometime later.
That's the idea, anyway. Successive red ACTION rolls could potentially remove a given character's ability to act for several turns, which may be enough to take them out of a fight before they can even do anything in the first place. Or set someone up for a bruising when all of those 'missing' actions come home to roost all at once.
Initiative control may be resisted by anyone with protection against warping attacks, time control, or just this ability in particular.
Internal Universe
Type: Psimotive Talent
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 1 point per rank
The name of this power is something of a misnomer, as the character with it does not actually bear an entire universe inside his or her body - they simply serve as an access to one. The character is a doorway which leads to an all-new space-time, of finite size, that the character either discovered or created upon gaining this power. This new universe is a permanent entity, which persists whether or not the power is active.
At any given point in time, the character with an internal universe can open the door to this new reality, which causes their body to become a rift between the internal and external plane. It can be opened in a manner that allows travel in, travel out, or both, at their discretion. Anything touching the character while their doorway is open can be drawn through the portal with power rank strength.
The great advantage of this power is that its wielder can store away anything - or anyone - that they deem dangerous. Unless things that are pulled into one's internal universe have the ability to cross dimensions, they aren't going anywhere once they're drawn in. This can be anything ranging from a pleasant vacation (after a fashion) to a horrible death sentence, depending on the conditions within one's internal realm.
But just what is this internal universe, you ask? It can have any physical properties the character with this power desires (limited to power intensity effects). These properties are generally static, being decided either when it is first discovered or created. The universe itself is of finite size, consisting of a number of cubic miles equal to its power rank number - but can be a curved space so that it appears to go on forever.
A character with this power generally cannot visit their internal space. They can look in on it through themselves, gaining a limited perspective of events transpiring inside, but that's about it - at least, without powers such as clairvoyance, or some means of making duplicates of themselves (either real or imagined). Other than this, however, one must acquire help if they need to handle situations transpiring in their universe.
L
Locational Memory
Type: Psimotive Skill
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 1 point per rank
Something of a passive ability, locational memory allows its possessor to quickly recall anywhere - or anywhen - they've ever been. This is an ideal ability for those travelers who have a tendency to get lost, or who wander way off the beaten path. The power allows immediate recall of places the character has been with a simple ACTION roll, its difficulty depending on where a location is relative to one's current positioning.
Recalling any location previously visited in the current space-time only requires a green power ACTION roll. Remembering precisely where one has been if that location was visited in a different universe or time period requires a yellow ACTION. Red ACTION rolls are only necessary if the character tries to produce the seven-dimensional coordinates of a place that is both in another plane and temporal frame.
Locational Sense
Type: Psimotive Skill
Duration: 1d10 turns + maintenance, if desired
Cost: 1 point per rank
The inverse of telelocation, locational sense is an ability which allows its wielder to know their precise, seven-dimensional coordinates relative to a chosen point of reference. Such a reference point can be anything the possessor of this sense chooses, such as one's place of birth, one's time of birth, their current home, or even something less personal, like last Thursday, or mile marker 329 on Nebraska's stretch of I-80.
Pinpointing one's relative position in standard dimensions merely requires a green ACTION roll (latitude and/or longitude, distances, et cetera). A yellow ACTION adds time to the equation (3.5 hours since I woke up, or some such). A red ACTION roll includes other planes of existence in the mix (am I in the right timeline, how many planes am I from Asgard, and so on).
While seemingly simple in scope, locational sense ensures one will never be lost. Even if they're not quite sure how to make it back home.
M
Mind Walk
Type: Psimotive Talent
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 1 point per rank
Each sentient mind is like its very own plane of existence. Whether speaking of the conscious mind or otherwise, the totality of a sentience casts its shadow on the seventh dimension. These shadows land in a space where thought and matter meld, a realm that can be traveled to by those who know how, contracting their existence on the lower dimensions and arriving fully manifest where their mind's shadow normally rests.
This is the process of mind walking.
Once in this realm of minds, the so-called mindscape, the mind walker can travel between sentiences, experiencing the spaces created as different consciousnesses influence the mental turf around them. Almost anything can happen in these turbulent spaces, as each mind is unique - and the influences of varying minds on a given point in space can shape it in curious and distressing fashions, depending on their strengths.
But why would one want to visit such a strange space-time, you ask? Primarily, one can travel to the shadow of a sentient mind, and then re-materialize in the 'real' world next to its possessor. This makes a mind walk a great way to travel anywhere, with no range limits. Assuming that a mind walker can find a sentient being where they'd like to travel, they can use this ability to literally go anywhere!
Alternately, at the heart of one's mental shadow, a mind walker can directly enter the consciousness of its owner. This requires a mind walk ACTION roll against the Psyche rank of the person whose mind is to be accessed. If this ACTION is successful, the mind walker may wield any psionics against the mind they're trespassing within at either the mind walk power rank or their normal rank +1 CS, whichever is higher.
Since they're physically interacting with their target's consciousness, a mind walker resolves combat normally. When damaged, they suffer direct, physical damage during such battles. The target, on the other hand, suffers Karmic damage from whatever harm a mind walker inflicts, and is treated for combat purposes as if they are astrally projecting. Defeat in the mindscape dumps one's body out near their assailant's location.
And that's not the only hazard while on a mind walk. In addition to the random hazards generated by the ever-changing influences of the minds that comprise the mindscape, there are entities that make use of this plane. Fellow travelers are the easiest to deal with, for they're often moving from place to place as well, and don't want the hassle of a fight. But the things that actually live here, they can be the stuff of nightmares.
Literally.
Denizens of the mindscape can be capable of absolutely anything, for they're formed of the stuff of dreams, random thoughts and urges, and even imagination - if not all of the above. They may be harmless as a butterfly or as menacing as a devil - and may shift from moment to moment, both in power and in behavior. After all, these mindscape entities are nothing if not a product of their mercurial environment.
N
Nativity Sense
Type: Psimantic Skill, Psimotive Skill
Duration: 1d10 turns + maintenance, if desired
Cost: 1 point per rank
Characters with this sensory capability have the means of detecting when someone or something in their vicinity is not in their proper, seven-dimensional coordinates. Nativity sense will perceive the presence of items out of time as well as those out of space, and can even spot astral forms and other 'snoopy' entities in nearby planes that interface with our own.
This ability works with a range as is determined by the Middle range table. A green ACTION roll is usually all that is necessary to see such things, unless some agency acts to mask their alien nature. To spot these cloaked persons or items, a character with a nativity sense must pass an ACTION roll against the intensity of whatever extraplanar stealth screen is working against them.
O
Offensive Portals
Type: Psimotive Talent
Duration: instantaneous effect
Cost: 1 point per rank
Offensive portals are just that, one-way rifts in space-time created for the express purposes of harming another. You see, the portals opened by this power access locations throughout reality that are hostile to life, which then spew forth whatever hostility is present at their terminating points. When used in this fashion, a hole in the universe can be used to attack another in almost any manner imaginable!
When first gained, this power is keyed to a singular hostile location. When activated, it will project whatever form of harm its possessor has chosen, staying open just long enough to vent power rank damage appropriate to wherever its other end is. An offensive portal opening on the Sun's surface might emit plasma (AP SD Energy damage), while gating to realms of evil might release darkness (Sorcerous damage).
The only real limits to the forms of damage an offensive portal can inflict is the imagination of its wielder. This is because, while the offensive portals power is initially keyed to but one location, additional deadly areas may be acquired as power stunts. When properly developed, this one power can be wielded against a foe in any number of different fashions - it all depends on how much a body works with it!
P
Planar Control
Type: Psimotive Art
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 3 points per rank
This strange and dangerous ability allows its wielder to manipulate several properties of the local space-time. Technically speaking, planar control works by temporarily altering one or more of the area's seven-dimensional coordinates, thus causing it to overlap with the realm which normally possesses those characteristics. This causes the traits of the two distinct, joined locations to mix and match.
Planar control can be used in one of six main fashions. By altering one of the standard three dimensions of an area, a planar controller can momentarily shift it to anywhere else, really. A change such as this involves, say, shifting a part of Nome, Alaska's latitude and longitude until it overlaps with Caracas, Venezuela. Each city will experience a meteorological change (Nome will heat up, whilst Caracas will cool down).
This ability can be wielded to change an area's temporal coordinates, instead. An example of this would be shifting modern day Gettysburg, Pennsylvania back to July 2nd, 1863. While the core geography would remain the same, you'd have a lot of panicked locals trying to figure out where all these Civil War reenactors came from - and plenty of Confederate soldiers being hit by inexplicable horseless carriages.
Moving up into yet higher dimensions, planar control can manipulate a space's fifth-dimensional coordinates. This allows one to move an area until it overlaps with the equivalent area on a variant earth. If matched with a world very close to our own this may not be readily apparent, but doing so with an earth whose dinosaurs were never rendered extinct in a cosmic calamity might cause people to see a plethora of weirdness.
Stepping further out of one's experience, characters with planar control can also change the sixth-dimensional coordinates of their area, making a transient link with any other universe sharing the same timeline. An instance of this sort of manipulation includes shifting a portion of the Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota until it overlaps with Asgard - and watching the hilarity (and stab wounds) quickly ensue.
Planar control can alter seventh-dimensional coordinates, though such super-spaces are usually coincident with the rest of space-time anyway. This coincidence can be amplified, however, such as making one's area mesh better with the astral plane to reveal the presence of ectoplasmic matter and entities. This may allow one to interact with ghosts and astral forms directly, but is otherwise harmless.
Combining one's space with the mindscape of another's nightmare, on the other hand, can be downright devastating. A dreamspace unleashed upon the real world can cause literally anything to happen, depending on the mind generating the nightmare in the first place. Strange physics, monstrous creatures, and even interruptions in causality might be inflicted on an area merged with someone's subconscious!
A sixth use for planar control involves stabilizing an area of space-time, instead of destabilizing it. This can be used to seal portals in an area that lead to other spaces or times, pitting the rank of planar control against that which made them to begin with (or with a yellow ACTION for naturally occurring rifts). Planar control can even be used to lock out teleportation, dimensional transit, and time travel powers!
The distance with which one can cause transient alterations in space-time is similar to that of related powers. Standard dimensions can be shifted with Far range (per teleportation), allowing someone with a Monstrous (75) rank to be able to reach any point on earth (which has a 7926.28-mile diameter). Shifting to different time periods works like time travel (that Monstrous planar control could move 421,875 years along the timeline).
Higher dimensions are more ambiguous. Reaching a specific variant timeline or another universe entirely isn't dependent on distance, but whether or not the wielder of planar control knows how to get there. These require a power stunt for each (as with dimensional transit), but if the character with this ability has dimensional transit as well, they can apply stunts to reach dimensions with it to planar control (and vice versa).
The size of an area so blurred by planar control is determined on the Near range table. That Monstrous (75) ranked planar control power indicated earlier could temporarily merge two areas within a mile radius of its wielder - that's a lot of real estate! A blended space remains for up to a number of turns equal to the power rank number - unless the planar controller specifically concentrates on maintaining the effect.
But why do this, you ask? Blurring two locations together can be a great way to travel between them directly. By connecting two areas in space-time, the wielder of planar control can walk through the affected area and, upon reaching the end of its circumference, lean into the new location in preference to the old. By doing so, the power will terminate - but its wielder will arrive in the new location no worse for the wear.
The problem is that other people, if they realize what is going on, can perform the same trick - and anyone carrying an item out of a blurred space that doesn't belong can introduce anachronisms into their realm. A Civil War combatant from before might steal a cell phone and a Beretta 9mm pistol from modern-day civilians and wander out of planar control's radius, thus causing serious divergences in the time stream.
That's why it pays for a planar controller to operate this ability for short periods of time; if people are menaced by dinosaurs for only a few seconds, the odds of anyone being eaten are greatly diminished. On the other hand, planar control can be a great way to cause mass panic, and makes for a supreme diversion if one is trying to cover their tracks when engaging in illegal activities.
Portal
Type: Psimotive Art
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 2 points per rank (before added features)
A portal is a direct connection between two different locations. Matter and energy may freely pass through one end of the portal and instantaneously arrive at the other, regardless of the intervening space, time, or dimension. Portals are two-way affairs, and anything on one end of a portal can move through to the other, regardless of which side of the portal the traveling material or energy is on.
Strictly speaking, the portal ability can only link two locations within the current space-time its wielder currently occupies. However, it may do so on the Very Far range table, linking two locations that are vastly distant from each other. For example, a character wielding the portal ability at Incredible (40) rank can construct a bridge between two points that are up to 2.5 million miles apart!
This may sound similar in effect to teleportation, but the advantage over that ability is that portal allows any number of persons, things, or energies to pass through. As long as the portal is open, anything can use it to move between the two locations with ease. There is no weight limit, no fatal materialization risks, or anything else to impede the use of the portal. That and it reaches farther, too.
Furthermore, one's portals can have even more features... at additional cost. Its possessor can add the ability to make portals into other dimensions or times by adding one point per rank (or making portal count as an additional power), or they can add the ability to build portals to both by increasing the cost by two points per rank (or making portal count as two additional powers).
If traveling through time or to other planes of existence is added to the portal ability, these features function as they normally would, where capability and/or range is concerned (see dimensional transit and time travel for more on this). These variant portals function in the exact same way as a regular portal would, it's just that their destinations are (often vastly) different.
Portals can be used offensively as well as for transit. One such use involves opening up a doorway to somewhere full of hostile creatures. While this is often more than enough to dispatch an unsuspecting foe (either temporarily or permanently), the problem is that the things on the other side of the portal are not under the control of its creator, and just might come for them next!
Another offensive use of portals is to open a portal in such a manner that it will snare someone or something in the area. This requires a to-hit roll based on the wielder's Agility score (and the target may attempt a dodge if physically capable of it).
Q
Quarantine
Type: Psimotive Talent
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 1 point per rank
By invoking the quarantine power, its possessor can act to corral something away from the rest of the multiverse! This usually involves shunting the target into a transitory, dimensionless plane - effectively putting it in stasis. The quarantined being or thing is effectively isolated from anything else in the six conventional dimensions, and cannot interact with them in any way whatsoever!
This is not banishment, however; quarantine is impermanent, incapable of kicking anything out of reality. The effect only lasts as long as its wielder can actively maintain a quarantine. A mere green power ACTION is all that is needed to quarantine something, though a living target is allowed a Psyche (will) ACTION roll to resist being shunted... elsewhere. Unless they're inexplicably willing, that is.
S
Space Control
Type: Psimotive Art
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 1 point per rank
The dangerous ability of space control allows its possessor to manipulate the geometry of the universe around its possessor! The very shape of space-time is fluid, dynamically subject to curvature by the mass within it, and by invoking this ability a space controller can artificially warp these curves to achieve a variety of useful effects. The simplest of such effects is to manipulate the speed of an object.
By compressing the space in front of an object to simulate a gravity well, a space controller can induce acceleration in it, whether it is currently moving or not, to a maximum speed equal to this power rank (or the object's own speed +1 CS, if that would be higher). This speed can be maintained by 'rolling' that steep curve in front of the object in question, such that it perpetually 'falls' into this artificial dent in the universe.
Similarly, expanding the space around an object can cause relative deceleration. This does not induce an actual decrease in velocity so much as it seemingly creates more real estate the moving object must cross. A flying object overwhelmed by this effect may appear to be motionless in the air, while it is in fact flying at full throttle within a localized, ever-expanding bubble of space!
Alternately, by warping the spatial curves between objects into strange geometries, a space controller can direct their relative motion as well. This can steer one object away from another, vector them onto a collision course, or anything else the space controller desires - without any apparent change of direction from the perspectives of the objects so moved (aside from the obvious visual cues that something is suddenly amiss).
To overcome the machinations of a space controller, individuals or objects in the affected area must supply enough opposing force to resist the curvatures in the universe he or she has induced. This basically involves passing an ACTION roll against the intensity of their space control power; if this ACTION roll fails, the movements of individuals within Near distance of the space controller are wholly subject to their whims.
Summoning
Type: Psimotive Art
Duration: special
Cost: 2 points per rank
Summoning is the ability to draw forth living creatures, whether sentient or otherwise - and bind them to your will! It can be used to make manifest creatures native to one's world, alien beings from across the cosmos, or even enigmatic entities from beyond the universe. A summoner may bring forth one creature or many, to be directed towards any task they are capable of... assuming they're strong enough.
Once the summoner has decided what he or she wishes to call forth, they must roll a power ACTION against the Psyche (will) score of their target. If this ACTION roll is successful, the creature will appear before them, and can be directed to perform one task. Once this task is completed the summoned entity will disappear, the summoner's hold upon it broken, and will smartly return from whence it came.
This assumes that only one creature was called by the summoner. If the summoner wishes to bring about multiple creatures, each doubling of such subtracts a -1 CS from their effective summoning rank. This may not be a huge deal when conjuring up a cloud of Africanized honey bees (who have no Psyche rank to speak of), but summoning a horde of pixies might be the last thing the summoner ever did.
Except for the screaming and so forth.
This is because, if the summoning ACTION fails, the called creature(s) might answer the summons anyway. Those creatures that do so may act as they please, no matter what the summoner demands of them. And the more uncontrolled creatures one calls forth, the more creatures there are to vent their frustration upon the summoner for attempting to drag them away from their lives to do someone else's dirty work.
The chief problem with summoning is that the summoner does not know if a creature is truly under their control until it disobeys them. Powerful creatures love to take advantage of this loophole in summoning to try and wring something out of the summoner in return for services rendered. Alternately, they may threaten him or her with bodily harm after the task is completed, if they are not bargained with beforehand.
On the plus side, if they've indeed taken control of the called creature, a summoner can ignore this posturing... unless it learns enough about a summoner to find them afterwards. Or can resist the summoning power's banishment of it after it has completed the task the summoner called it to perform. Some entities truly lack a sense of humor, and can bear a grudge for a very, very long time.
T
Telelocation (finding)
Type: Psimotive Skill
Duration: instantaneous effect
Cost: 1 point per rank
Finding is the useful ability to locate something no matter where it is. This potent power allows one to use what they know about an object, no matter how little, to determine its position in 7D space-time, and does so within a distance as determined on the Far range table. If an object is further away (or in a different universe or time frame) vague directions are provided instead.
A green ACTION is all that is required for things a body is intimately familiar with (anybody on his or her super-hero / villain team, or their favorite blaster). Yellow ACTIONs are necessary when the character tries to locate something that isn't so familiar (such as the new janitor). A red ACTION is only needed if the wielder of this ability attempts to locate something they have only seen or otherwise sensed once.
This sense can't locate a person or object that its wielder is totally unfamiliar with.
Teleport Trigger
Type: Psimotive Skill
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 4 points (flat cost)
A teleport trigger is a special contingency that a character with a non-adjacent movement power can set up in advance. While designed to work with teleportation, this power can also function perfectly well with dimensional transit, time travel, and like abilities. When triggered, this power will activate the chosen movement ability and deliver its wielder to a predetermined location of his or her choice.
This trigger can be set up as just about anything its wielder can think of, whether it takes the form of an action, a physical condition, a set amount of time, a spoken word, or anything else, really. While maintained, teleport trigger will occupy one of the character's psionic 'slots', but doesn't do anything until whatever trigger the character has chosen is invoked.
Teleportation
Type: Psimotive Art
Duration: instantaneous effect
Cost: 1 point per rank
This is the root power of the psimotive discipline of power.
Using the power of teleportation, a character may move from one point in space to another without actually crossing the intervening distance. Teleportation functions on the Far range table, allowing a staggering freedom of movement for its wielder. For example, just possessing teleportation at Typical (6) rank lets its wielder cross up to ten miles in the blink of an eye!
And a teleporter can bring more than just themselves along for the ride. Teleportation allows its wielder to carry with him or her an amount of additional mass equal to their power rank number, as if it were an equivalent Strength score. The Typical (6) teleporter used as an example above could carry along two hundred bonus pounds of material - either a whole lot of gear or possibly another person if they're light enough.
Teleportation works by momentarily 'lifting' its wielder (and any cargo) out of their current space-time and 'bouncing' them off a higher dimension. Upon returning, the teleporter (and whatever they brought with them) materializes at the desired coordinates, no worse for the wear - that is, unless something was physically occupying the space that was teleported into.
Usually, gaseous and liquid matter will simply displace upon the appearance of teleported matter, but the solid stuff is where problems arise. If one teleports into a solid object, he or she must immediately roll an Endurance ACTION against the material strength of the object teleported into (or, if one manifested inside a living being, their Strength score instead). Success means the character teleported back out.
They and their cargo will return to their point of origin, rendered unconscious for 1d10 turns but otherwise all right. Should this ACTION fail, however, the teleporter will take an amount of damage equal to the object's material strength or victim's Strength score, and fall unconscious. Trapped within the object, the teleporter will begin to lose Endurance ranks as if subject to a Killing blow - which they were.
If the teleporter is helped in time, he or she may be just fine, though this may be tricky if they manifest deep within a solid object, such as a building foundation or moon. Being teleported into prompts much the same action, and if this ACTION fails the person unwittingly teleported into will suffer like damage and may potentially die as well - even if the person who teleported into them makes it to safety.
Teleportation / Others
Type: Psimotive Talent
Duration: instantaneous effect
Cost: 1 point per rank
The power to teleport others is the ability to move matter instantly - without it passing through the space between its origin and destination points. The power does not function on oneself, instead working on anything else in the environment, and can move a maximum amount of matter equal to its power rank as an equivalent Strength score; Excellent (20) teleportation / others, then, could move eight hundred pounds.
To teleport something, a character has to be able to perceive it somehow. This most often involves seeing the object, though any other sensory perception will do. This can be greatly aided by the use of abilities such as clairvoyance, or perhaps video cameras or other electronic aids. The ability to teleport others functions with Far range; that Excellent (20) power, above, could move things with a hundred mile range!
The power works by momentarily kicking the targeted matter out of one's current space-time, and 'bouncing' it off of a higher dimension. Upon returning, the teleported matter will materialize at the desired coordinates, no worse for the wear save for perhaps momentary disorientation as the surroundings suddenly shift. Unless, of course, something was occupying the space the matter was teleported into.
Usually, liquid and gaseous matter will simply displace upon the appearance of teleported matter, but the solid stuff is where danger arises. When transporting inanimate matter into another batch of inanimate matter, the two masses will basically merge with each other, their molecular structures overlapping and likely rendering anything active (like a robot) partially or totally inert.
If the teleported matter or the matter teleported into (or both) are alive, any living being involved must pass an Endurance ACTION roll against either the MS of the matter in question or the Strength of the offending life form. Success means the teleport was aborted in time, the teleported matter being bounced right back to its point of origin. When two life forms are involved, only one need succeed at this ACTION to escape.
The only harm done by this is inflicting a Stun for 1d10 turns on living being so teleported being the result. If any failure of such ACTIONs occur, any living being trapped within formerly external mass will immediately begin losing Endurance ranks, as if subject to a Kill result. If not rescued and treated in time, that person will die, consigned to a terrible death inside the mass of some object or another.
But how does one avoid being teleported, you ask? If unwilling, one can perform a dodge maneuver to prevent hostile teleportation, attempting to remove oneself from the power's effect - thus causing it to transport a target-shaped hole of air (or whatever). Alternately, one might have a specific resistance to teleportation as well, or perhaps some variation of the anchor ability, to effectively root themselves in place.
Temporal Static
Type: Psimotive Talent
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 1 point per rank
In an ideal multiverse, everything stays where it's supposed to. Nobody goes gallivanting off into other time periods, timelines, or the like. Reality rarely reflects this ideal, however, what with people roaming all over the place for one reason or another, and this is where mishaps occur. Worse, when something isn't occupying its appropriate fourth, fifth, or sixth-dimensional coordinates, it builds up a sort of temporal charge.
This charge, or energy potential, is known as temporal static.
Nominally, this buildup of energy will dissipate once the person or thing which is out of place in higher dimensions returns to its 'rightful' coordinates. A character with this ability can instead collect accumulating temporal static, and manipulate it as they see fit. In practice, this ability can shape the power involved as can any other energy control power, and its possessor may even wield it as a devastating energy attack!
A blast of temporal static appears like ordinary lightning, albeit of a different color than is usual (possibly emerald green, for instance, but definitely something distinctive). It can be used on any target within Near distance of the wielder of this power, and inflicts standard Energy damage against most individuals, but has additional affects when wielded against someone or something displaced in higher dimensions.
If a time traveler, cross-time wanderer, or plane walker is struck with temporal static, this Energy damage adopts an Armor Piercing component, and prompts an Endurance ACTION (or MS check) in the target. If this ACTION fails, the item or traveler so struck will be forcibly ejected from their current place and time, and are abruptly shunted back where they belong - making this an effective, if limited form of banishment!
Temporal Windows
Type: Psimotive Skill
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 1 point per rank
A temporal window is a specialized, one-way portal which allows its creator to peer in on other time frames. This skill can look into the past or future, going as far forwards or backwards as one would like. The rift it creates can only transmit audiovisual information through to its creator, and is invisible to most conventional senses - but certain specialized sensory powers may well spot a temporal window's eavesdropping.
The process of creating such a portal is easy, when you get down to it, the only problem being that time is vast. Very vast. A green power ACTION roll is generally all that one needs to open a temporal window - the trick is knowing when to do so. A different color of ACTION is normally necessary only in the face of effects that prevent a portal from opening, such as dimensional static.
Time Control
Type: Psimotive Art
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 3 points per rank
The potent ability of time control allows its possessor to alter the flow of time itself! In practice, the time controller can manipulate time such that it can be accelerated or decelerated by a multiple equal to its power rank number. For example, a character with Amazing (50) time control could slow down time to 1/50th of its standard rate of passage, or instead speed it up to 50 times its normal 'velocity'.
The power only works within Very Near distance of its wielder, but within that range time is his or her plaything. When a character is temporally accelerated in comparison to others in their vicinity, they benefit from the effective simulation of super speed. In other words, they can perform actions in a fraction of the amount of time normally necessary, and receive one extra attack for each rank of time control.
Conversely, a temporally decelerated character performs actions much slower than usual. The time required to complete tasks is multiplied by time control's power rank - and one's attacks are spread out over a number of turns equal to the amount that someone similarly accelerated would normally receive. Individuals so slowed are affected by poison, disease, and SD damage at a fraction of the normal rate.
Limiting oneself to either speeding up or slowing down time (not both) is considered a strong limitation. Any other abilities one wishes to use controlling time must be gained as a separate power stunt. Such stunts can include the simulation of super running (by simply running at a normal speed while enclosed in a time bubble), time travel, portals (that move through time), or even planar control itself!
The effects of time control may be avoided with resistance to warping attacks - or just resistance to time control itself.
Time Travel
Type: Psimotive Art
Duration: instantaneous effect
Cost: 2 points per rank
Time travel is the ability to move forwards and backwards in time. This powerful ability works by pulling its wielder outside the normal space-time continuum and bouncing them off variant timelines, the angle of deflection determining how far one may travel in a single hop. The larger a power rank a character has in time travel, the greater an angular deflection they can achieve - thus trips through time that stretch even further.
Even a relatively small power rank can reach rather far into the time stream; a traveler may move through time a number of years (either forwards or backwards) equal to their power rank cubed. Thus, a Feeble (2) ranked time traveler can move eight years either way, while a Remarkable (30) ranked time traveler has a 27,000 year range - the latter allowing them to visit all of known human civilization!
This lends itself to any number of theories about how to alter the past, the present, or even the future. The problem is that whenever a body moves through time, he or she branches off a new timeline dedicated to each hop. For instance, when traveling to the past, a time traveler creates a timeline where they reached a point in history, leaving behind their original (where they didn't actually interfere with the past).
While in the 'new' timeline, the time traveler can alter 'their' past as they see fit. They can kill their grandparents, steal the Statue of Liberty, whatever. When traveling back to the present, they'll even see the results of whatever changes they have wrought - though even if they negated their own existence in this new timeline, they won't cease to exist because they are alien to it (despite being its ersatz creator).
Of course, the time traveler may not like the consequences of their actions, and might wish things to go back the way they were. Doing so is as simple as returning to one's original timeline (which has had a traveler-shaped absence in it since they left), though this requires stepping into the second temporal dimension, and is considered a power stunt, as it involves an aspect of dimensional transit.
The whole part about going to variant earths and back.
Alternately, one can hope their allies from the 'real' universe will come looking for them, in the event that this power stunt cannot be mastered. If the stunt isn't viable, and there is no likelihood of rescue, it's possible the time traveler may be out of luck. Or may have to go back into the past and stop themselves from changing things. Or perhaps try to do things differently, setting off even more divergent timelines.
While traveling to the future, you don't actually branch off a variant timeline until you return. When you do so, you immediately split off a different timeline wherein the future you traveled to has been rendered an alternate; that precise eventuality is no longer viable as a result of your present, the mere act of seeing it negating the probability of it occurring (it's one of those Schrödinger's Cat things).
Not to mention, you know, all those sleek future doo-dads you brought back with you.
Mind you, all of the above assumes you immediately return after entering the time stream. One can, as a power stunt, exit the timeline at their current point and just drift. This extends the range of time travel to an infinite degree, as the traveler may move along the timeline as far as they wish before allowing themselves to be drawn back in. The problem with this mode of time travel is the level of accuracy involved.
It's kind of hard to tell where you're going, temporally speaking, while outside of time. Roll an ACTION to determine relative accuracy. A white result means you could be at any time in any variant earth. A green ACTION means you have the timeline correct, but the time could be anywhen. A yellow ACTION gets you within a century of the desired time period, and a red ACTION gets you within about a month of where you want to be.
Transient Universe
Type: Psimotive Skill
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 1 point per rank
The ultimate smuggling tool, a transient universe is a pocket dimension that exists only for a short period of time. When this power is invoked, it will craft an extradimensional space with but one opening - usually at the side of its creator, or perhaps in an actual pocket on their clothing. This universe is of finite size, consisting of a number of cubic yards equal to its power rank number.
The power must be consciously maintained, but while this is done the character who wields this ability can store whatever material they desire in the space they have crafted, whether animate or otherwise - though the former may need its own air supply. If the power is terminated while matter is still resident in the pocket dimension, it will immediately spew forth upon the deactivation of the transient universe ability.
U
Universal Windows
Type: Psimotive Skill
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 1 point per rank
A universal window is a specialized, one-way portal which allows its creator to peer in on other universes. When invoked, this ability will craft a limited doorway between the planes, one which only allows audiovisual information through. This minor rift in space-time is invisible on the other end, at least to conventional sensory apparatus, but certain specialized sensory powers may well spot a universal window's eavesdropping.
The process of creating such a portal is simple, when you get down to it, the only problem being that the multiverse is a very large place. A green power ACTION roll is generally all that one needs to open a universal window - the trick is knowing where to do so. A different color of ACTION is normally necessary only in the face of effects that prevent a portal from opening, such as dimensional static.