Level
Three Powers
Clone
Level: 3
Quantum Minimum: 5
Dice Pool: Stamina + Clone
Range: Self
Area: N/A
Duration: One scene
Effect: Creates one duplicate of the character per success.
Multiple Actions: No
Description: This power allows a nova to create "clones"
of himself from quantum energies and nearby molecules. To use it, he rolls
Stamina + Clone. Each success equals one clone — assuming the character wants to
pay for it. At this time, the character must spend one quantum point per clone
created, up to the number of successes; he may, of course, spend fewer quantum
points if he wishes fewer clones.
Clones are exact duplicates of the character — they have
the same Attributes, Abilities, powers, clothes and equipment (except that
clones do not have the Clone power themselves). However, they are separate
persons in a game sense; if one is knocked unconscious or killed, the others
are not affected. Clones do not have any sort of telepathic link; they
communicate by talking just like ordinary groups of people.
Clones are not as powerful as the original character. Clones
lose one die from all Traits (Attributes, quantum powers, etc.) for each clone
created, to a minimum of 1. Thus, if a character created three clones, those clones
would have -3 ratings in all Traits. Moreover, all clones have only half of
their creator's Quantum Pool. It takes only one turn for a nova to create
clones, but the character can do nothing else that turn (not even walking).
Once created, the duplicates remain for a scene or until they
"recombine" with the original character (usually referred to as the
"host" by the clones). To recombine, two or more duplicates need only
touch and use an action; again, they can perform no other action during that
turn. Recombining is automatic. Clones that do not recombine dissolve into
nothingness at the end of the scene, as the energies forming them dissipate.
Extras: None
Cyberkinesis
Level: 3
Quantum Minimum: 4
Dice Pool: Variable
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 10 meters or Special
Area: Special
Duration: Special
Effect: Controls computers and machines; the more successes
achieved, the greater the control.
Multiple Actions: Yes
Description: Cyberkinesis is the ability to manipulate machines,
particularly electronic machines and computers, encompassing a variety of related
abilities. The character does not have to possess any relevant Abilities (like
Engineering) in order to use these abilities, but it is not uncommon for
cyberkinetics to know such skills. A cyberkinetic can send his consciousness
through a computer network, allowing him to affect a distant computer, if he
can locate the machine at all (typically a Hacking feat). Doing so costs one
Willpower, requires total concentration (no other actions) and raises the
difficulty of the skill roll as follows:
Computer Affected
Time to Accomplish Difficulty
Same network Three
turns +1
Same city One
minute +2
Same continent 10
minutes +3
Transcontinental One
hour +4
As with Elemental Anima and Mastery, this power
provides several techniques. A nova may learn and freely
use one technique per dot in the power She may attempt
other techniques, but she must pay double quantum cost
and roll against a difficulty penalty of one to activate
these powers. Techniques include:
Alter Data
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Cyberkinesis
Area: N/A
Duration: Concentration
Upon a successful Intelligence + Cyberkinesis roll, the
cyberkinetic can interface with a computer or similar piece of equipment to
alter, read or remove existing data or insert or create new information. The
character can read or alter approximately 100 megabytes x Quantum of
information per minute. For each success achieved on the Intelligence +
Cyberkinesis roll beyond the first, this time is cut in half. Any changes to or
deletions of information are permanent; the data must be reentered into the
computer by hand.
Control
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Cyberkinesis
Area: N/A
Duration: Concentration
The cyberkinetic can take control of any machine with
electronic, mechanical or hydraulic parts. The number of successes achieved on
a Manipulation + Cyberkinesis roll indicates the "Strength" of the cyberkinetic's
control. If the machine (or its user or driver) tries to counteract the
control, assign the machine a "Strength" to reflect its power and
resolve the situation as a resisted action.
Fool
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Cyberkinesis
Area: N/A
Duration: Concentration
The cyberkinetic can insert false images in sensors, security
systems or communications devices. The number of successes achieved on a
Manipulation + Cyberkinesis roll indicates the "Manipulation" rating
of the cyberkinetic's control. The Storyteller should assign the device (or its
user) a Perception rating; the more sophisticated and powerful the machine, the
greater its Perception. A "Manipulation" versus Perception resisted action
then determines whether the cyberkinetic's attempt to trick the machine
succeeds.
Overload
Dice Pool: Wits + Cyberkinesis
Area: N/A
Duration: Instant
The cyberkinetic overloads the machine in some way —
sends a pulse of electricity or electromagnetic energy through it, stresses it
so that it jams or seizes up. If the nova's Wits + Cyberkinesis roll is
successful, the machine will not work. The Storyteller may increase the difficulty
of the roll for machines that are particularly advanced or difficult to affect
for some reason.
Reprogram
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Cyberkinesis
Area: N/A
Duration: Concentration
A complement to Alter Data, Reprogram allows the cyberkinetic
to change the instructions or programming used to run a computer or similar
device. The difficulty of the Intelligence + Cyberkinesis roll should be
determined by the Storyteller; the more sophisticated the computer and its
software, the greater the difficulty. A standard desktop computer would incur
no difficulty penalty, for example, while a highly defended military mainframe
computer would incur a penalty of three. The changes or additions to a
computer's software are permanent until otherwise altered.
Extras: None
Disintegration
Level: 3
Quantum Minimum: 5
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Disintegration
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 10 meters
Area: N/A
Duration: Instant
Effect: Causes (Quantum + successes) levels of aggravated
damage.
Multiple Actions: No
Description: This terrifying power allows the character literally
to disintegrate (or in some similar way utterly destroy) a person or physical
object. To use it, the character pays the quantum-point cost and rolls
Dexterity + Disintegration. His successes, plus a number of automatic successes
equal to his Quantum, equal the number of levels of aggravated damage the
attack inflicts.
Extras: None
Elemental Anima
Level: 3
Quantum Minimum: 4
Dice Pool: Variable
Range: Special
Area: Special
Duration: Variable
Effect: Character can control a particular substance or
phenomenon.
Multiple Actions: Yes
Description: A nova with Elemental Anima can project her
quantum consciousness into a particular element — fire, sound, ice, electricity
or whatever the player can think of and the Storyteller will allow — investing it
with "life." This power allows her to take control of it and shape it
to her will. Note that the character cannot create the element (doing that
requires the Elemental Mastery power) — she can only affect and manipulate
elemental "matter" that already exists. The player must choose which
element the nova can control when buying the power.
This control offers the nova a variety of techniques. The
exact techniques differ from element to element, based on the nature of those
elements and the specific techniques the nova masters. The player may pick one of
the listed techniques for each dot the nova has in the power; these techniques
are ones the nova has "mastered" and may freely perform. The
techniques chosen should be appropriate to the element that is being controlled
— fire or water powers may provide movement abilities, for example, but it's
unlikely that darkness would. The character may also try to perform other
techniques, either ones listed here or entirely one-shot, off-the-cuff "stunts."
However, such effects cost double the quantum points and suffer difficulty
penalties of one; the nova has mastered only the techniques her dots allow her
to. The Storyteller has the absolute right to allow or refuse a particular use
of power, based on her interpretation of the element's inherent limits.
For Example: La Niña buys Elemental Anima at 3, defining the
power as the ability to manipulate, Focus and disperse air and wind. For her
three mastered abilities, she chooses Enhance/ Diminish (can whip winds to a
gale or calm them), Lethal Blast (knifelike "wind-serpents" that vaguely
resemble hissing moray eels) and Movement (shapes winds into a cloak-like form,
enabling her to sail aloft and glide through the air). She may use these
abilities at the standard difficulty. If Nina wished to focus air into a defensive
screen (the Wail ability), she could try, but she'd have to pay double (six
quantum points), and she 'd suffer a difficulty penalty of one.
If the Storyteller or a player wishes to create
additional techniques, the examples can serve as guidelines for levels of power
and rules. As a basic rule of thumb, no technique gained through Elemental
Anima should be as powerful as the same or similar ability bought on its own.
The duration of Elemental Anima techniques varies. Attacks
are typically Instant; movement techniques usually have a duration of
Maintenance; other durations are noted below. The range of a technique is
typically the standard (Quantum + power rating) x 10 meters, but different
ranges may be noted in the text, as is the area of any technique that covers
one.
Alter Temperature
Dice Pool: N/A
Range: Variable
Area: (Quantum + power rating) x 10 meters
Duration: Maintenance
The character can increase or decrease the temperature of
the air in an area around himself (which is appropriate for fire and ice powers
primarily). The character can alter temperature by 10 degrees Celsius for each
dot in the power. No roll is required, but quantum points must be paid.
Blast
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Elemental Anima
Range: (Quantum + power rating ) x 10 meters
Area: N/A
Duration: Instant
The nova shapes, strengthens and redirects the element, turning
it into a damaging blast that inflicts [Quantum x 2] levels + (power rating x
3) dice of bashing damage. If there is only a small amount of the element
available, the Storyteller may reduce the range or damage.
Elemental Shield
Dice Pool: Wits + Elemental Anima
Range: Self
Area: N/A
Duration: Instant
The character can turn the element away from himself, thus
protecting himself and anyone directly next to him from the brunt of its
effects. Roll Wits + Elemental Anima; each success counts as four soak that
apply only to attacks based on that element. This technique can be aborted to
as a defensive action.
Enhance/Diminish
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Elemental Anima
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 10 meters
Area: (Quantum + power rating) x 10 meter radius
Duration: Maintenance
The character can increase or decrease the effect of the
element in an area — for example, brighten or dim light, or increase or
decrease the damage caused by fire. The effect can be enhanced or diminished by
25% per success rolled. If the element is a damaging effect, each success
increases or reduces the intensity of the element (or any element-based power)
by two damage dice. The nova may not enhance her own or another character's
powers with this effect, but she may attempt to reduce a rival elemental's
powers. If another character's power is being reduced, a resisted action
pitting the nova's Quantum + power rating against the target's Quantum + power
rating is required; each net success reduces the target's power rating by one
dot. If the power rating is reduced to zero, the target cannot use his power
for a number of turns equal to the elemental's power rating.
No roll is required, but quantum points must be paid as
usual.
Note: If the element controlled is air, and the nova reduces
the effect to 0%, she creates a vacuum in the area. Characters without
appropriate Life Support who are caught in a vacuum may suffocate.
Lethal Blast
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Elemental Anima
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 10 meters
Area: N/A
Duration: Instant
The character can shape an existing quantity of the element
into a deadly attack — sharp shards of stone, razor-sharp tendrils of water or
air, a laser or the like. This attack inflicts [Quantum x 2] levels + (power
rating x 2) dice of lethal damage.
Movement
Dice Pool: N/A
Range: Self
Area: N/A
Duration: Maintenance
The character directs the element in such a way that he
can move quickly. The nature of the movement depends on the element: Novas who
control wind have it pick them up and waft them where they wish to go; elementals
who control earth and rock ride waves of earth or tunnel through the soil. The
character can move at the rate of (power rating x 2) + 20 meters per action, or
(40 x power rating) kilometers per hour out of combat.
Shaping
Dice Pool: Wits + Elemental Anima
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 5 meters
Area: Special
Duration: Maintenance
The character may alter the shape of a quantity of the
element. No more than (three cubic meters of the element x power rating) can be
affected at once. The character can create geometric shapes or simple
"sculptures" such as fire-people or ice statues. If the player makes
an Arts (Sculpture) roll, the character can create extremely detailed and
beautiful shapes. If the nova attempts to use this power offensively (for
example, to sculpt a pit under a foe or trap an opponent in a burning ring of
fire), the player must make an attack roll (Wits + Elemental Anima), which the
target can dodge normally.
Wail
Dice Pool: N/A
Range: Special
Area: (Quantum + power rating) cubic meters
Duration: Maintenance (and see below)
The character raises a wall of the element in front of
him. For each dot in the power, the nova gains two soak against appropriate
attacks unless the attacker can somehow shoot around it. The wall moves as the
character moves, but it immediately collapses if she intentionally leaves the
ground (unless the character is creating a screen of hardened air molecules,
for instance). The Storyteller may declare the wall useless against certain
attacks; for example, a wall of wind would blow aside physical attacks and
snuff fires, but it would have little effect on electricity.
Extras: None
Elemental Mastery
Level: 3
Quantum Minimum: 5
Dice Pool: Variable
Range: Variable
Area: Variable
Duration: Variable
Effect: The nova can create, alter and control various substances
or phenomena.
Multiple Actions: Yes
Description: Elemental Mastery is similar to, but transcends,
Elemental Anima. Whereas Elemental Anima allows a nova to manipulate an
existing element, Elemental Mastery allows him actually to create that element
or phenomenon, thus greatly expanding the range of his elemental abilities.
Like Elemental Anima, Elemental Mastery provides a list
of techniques, and characters may master one technique per dot in Elemental
Mastery. Characters may attempt to use techniques they haven't mastered, but
the players must pay double cost and roll against a difficulty penalty of one.
The techniques chosen should be appropriate to the element being generated —
fire or earth powers may provide imprison, for example, but it's unlikely that
light powers would.
Characters may choose from the techniques listed here or
make up their own, with the Storyteller's permission and approval.
Blast
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Elemental Mastery
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 10 meters
Area: N/A
Duration: Instant
The nova generates a blast or bolt of the element that
inflicts [Quantum x 2] levels + (power rating x 3) dice of bashing damage.
Crush
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Elemental Mastery
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 10 meters
Area: N/A
Duration: Instant
The nova is able to create a quantity of the element that
picks up the target and slams him into a nearby sturdy object such as a
building or tree, or simply crushes him. This attack could represent an intense
burst of wind, a hand of stone which grows out of the ground and grabs the
victim or phoenix-talons of fire. The character rolls Intelligence + power
rating; each success allows the target to be moved up to 10 meters (if the nova
so desires); the victim takes a number of bashing damage levels equal to twice
the successes rolled, and her Initiative on the next turn is reduced by one per
success.
Imprison
Dice Pool: Wits + Elemental Mastery
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 10 meters
Area: N/A
Duration: Maintenance
The nova is able to confine a target within a quantity
of the element. Examples include creating a fiery
cage, suspending a victim in an invisible fist of air or
causing
someone to sink up to his neck into solid rock. The
confining element has a Might equal to twice the number
of successes rolled; the trapped character may break out
of it just as he would from a clinch. Imprison inflicts
no
damage ordinarily, but if the nova spends an extra
quantum
point during the initial attack, it inflicts damage as
would a clinch.
Lethal Blast
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Elemental Mastery
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 10 meters
Area: N/A
Duration: Instant
The character can "throw" or project a lethal
damage blast of the element — anything from a blast of freezing cold to a
dehydrative attack that sucks the water out of the target's body. This attack
inflicts [Quantum x 2] levels + (power rating x 2) dice of lethal damage.
Propel
Dice Pool: N/A
Range: Self
Area: N/A
Duration: Maintenance
By creating a "blast" of the element behind
himself, the character can move at rapid speeds — (power rating x 2) + 20
meters per action, or (40 x power rating) kilometers per hour out of combat.
Where and how the character can move depends on the element; Propel based on
fire would be like Flight, whereas Propel based on water would work only in
water and would be like Hyperswimming.
Shield
Dice Pool: N/A
Range: Self
Area: N/A
Duration: Maintenance
The character can create a Force Field-like protective barrier
of the element around himself. This barrier provides two extra soak per dot
versus bashing and lethal damage. For an extra quantum point, the Shield causes
harm to anyone who touches it (it inflicts a number of dice of bashing damage
equal to the character's power rating). The Shield slightly obscures others'
view of the character, but it does not interfere with his vision at all.
Sphere
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Elemental Mastery
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 10 meters
Area: (Quantum + power rating) x 3 meters
Duration: Instant
The character can project a large ball or sphere of the
element, which injures anyone within its radius. The blast inflicts (power
rating x 3) dice of bashing damage in the listed radius.
Storm
Dice Pool: Wits + Elemental Mastery
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 10 meters
Area: (Quantum + power rating) x 5 meters
Duration: Concentration
The character can generate a stormlike area filled with
the element. Examples include blizzards, firestorms, sandstorms, earthquakes,
tornadoes, sonic fields and ice patches. Each turn, Storm typically inflicts
two levels of bashing damage per dot in the power rating, reduces opponent's
dice pools by two (from whipping winds, fiery gouts or poor footing) and halves
movement and vision. Other effects are up to the Storyteller and should be
based on common-sense views of the effects of the element. For example, anyone
moving through a blizzard or earthquake might have to make an Athletics or
Flight roll to keep from slipping and falling, and they would risk hypothermia;
anyone in a firestorm would take lethal damage instead of bashing.
Extras: None
Entropy Control
Level: 3
Quantum Minimum: 4
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Entropy Control
Range: Variable
Area: Variable
Duration: Special
Effect: Character can control and manipulate entropic forces.
Multiple Actions: Yes
Description: A character with this suite of abilities is
a master of the forces of entropy that are always at work in the universe. His
quantum consciousness is able to tap into, summon and manipulate entropy the
same way other novas play with fire or ice.
As with Elemental Anima and Mastery, this power provides
several techniques. A nova may learn and freely use one technique per dot in
the power; she may attempt other techniques, but she must pay double quantum points
and roll at a difficulty penalty of one to use these alternative techniques.
Techniques include:
Bioentropy Storm
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Entropy Control
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 10 meters
Area: (Quantum + power rating) x 5 meters
Duration: Instant
The nova can create a field in which entropic effects pertaining
to living creatures run riot. The victims age, suffer spontaneous injuries and
experience other biological breakdowns. The nova rolls Dexterity + Entropy Control
in an opposed contest against the victims' Stamina; each net success inflicts
one health level of lethal damage. Victims cannot soak this damage unless they have
the Hardbody Mega-Stamina enhancement.
Breakdown
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Entropy Control
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 10 meters
Area: N/A
Duration: Special
The nova can cause any machine, device or similar object
to stop functioning as some part of it breaks, wears out or loses power. This
power's effects are permanent until someone repairs the device, provides it
with more power or the like. To use Breakdown, the nova rolls Intelligence +
Entropy Control in an opposed action against the device's "Stamina."
The Storyteller should determine the device's Stamina rating for these
purposes. The more complex or technologically advanced a machine is, the lower
its Stamina — it's hard to use Breakdown on a simple object or one with few
moving parts, but the more complicated a device becomes, the more opportunities
there are for entropy to gain a foothold.
Entropic Shield
Dice Pool: Stamina + Entropy Control
Range: Self
Area: N/A
Duration: Maintenance
The character surrounds himself with a field of entropic energy.
This field heightens the entropic reactions within any incoming attack
(especially those based on physical objects, such as bullets), thus disrupting
and weakening them. Each success achieved on a Stamina + Entropy Control roll
grants the character an extra soak against bashing and lethal damage. However,
this extra soak does not apply to attacks by living matter, such as fists or
animals.
Probability Corruption
Dice Pool: Entropy Control
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 5 meters
Area: N/A
Duration: Maintenance
This technique allows a nova to cause the forces of entropy
to overwhelm a single target, making it more likely that he will fail
disastrously. To use it, the nova rolls Entropy Control. Each success achieved
results in a loss of one die (or one automatic success) for all rolls made by
the target. Additionally, the target will botch a roll if he rolls no successes
and any die comes up 1 or 2. These negative effects last as long as the
nova pays quantum points to keep the entropic forces focused on the victim.
Extras: None
Gravity Control
Level: 3
Quantum Minimum: 4
Dice Pool: Variable
Range: Variable
Area: Variable
Duration: Variable
Effect: Character is able to manipulate gravity and gravitic
fields.
Multiple Actions: Yes
Description: A nova with this power is a master of gravity.
He is able to lift and move objects, fly by manipulating gravitic forces and
otherwise control gravity. As with Elemental Anima and Mastery, this power provides
several techniques. A nova may learn and freely use one technique per dot in
the power; she may attempt other techniques, but the player must pay double
quantum cost and roll against a difficulty penalty of one to activate these
powers. Techniques include:
Gravitic Blast
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Gravity Control
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 10 meters
Area: N/A
Duration: Instant
By manipulating micropockets of intense gravity around a
target, the nova can bash and tear it apart. The end result is similar to a
Quantum Bolt. This attack does [Quantum x 2] levels + (power rating x 3) dice
of bashing damage or [Quantum x 2] levels +- (power rating x 2) dice or lethal
damage (nova's choice).
Gravitational Field
Dice Pool: Wits + Gravity Control
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 5 meters
Area: (Quantum + power rating) x 3 meters
Duration: Concentration
The nova can alter the gravity in a given area. For each
success achieved on a Dexterity + Gravity Control roll, he can warp local
gravity by up to .5 g (normal Earth gravity is 1 g). Weight of objects is
increased or decreased by an equivalent amount; a 100 kg object in a 1.5 g
field weighs 150 kg. Objects in a zero-g field weigh nothing, while objects in
a negative-g field fall upward until out of the field. The nova can be
selective if he wishes, increasing some objects' mass, decreasing others and
leaving yet others alone. A creature or object that becomes too heavy cannot
move (or be moved), and it may collapse under its own weight if it becomes
heavy enough. If the nova tries to affect a living thing with a Gravitational
Field, the target may resist with Willpower.
Gravitic Flight
Dice Pool: N/A
Range: Self
Area: N/A
Duration: Maintenance
The nova is able to manipulate gravity to pick himself up
and fly crudely. His flying speed is equal to (power rating x 2) + 20 meters
per action, or (40 x power rating) kilometers per hour out of combat.
Gravitic Shield
Dice Pool: N/A
Range: Self
Area: N/A
Duration: Maintenance
The character can project waves of gravity around herself.
Doing so provides an excellent defense against incoming projectiles and
deflects hand-to-hand physical attacks. Each turn, the character can subtract
her dots in Gravity Control from the attack successes of any physical
projectile attack (bullets, thrown objects, etc.); furthermore, the Gravitic
Shield provides one soak per dot against any projectile attack that does
connect. She may subtract half her dots in Gravity Control (round up) from the
attack successes of any hand-to-hand physical attack. Gravitic Shield does not
affect pure energy attacks, like flame attacks or electrical blasts.
Gravitokinesis
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Gravity Control
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 10 meters
Area: N/A
Duration: Concentration
The nova may use his ability to manipulate gravity to
pick up objects. He can then throw them or hit other characters with them.
Doing so is performed in a fashion identical to use of the Telekinesis power,
except that the dice pool is Dexterity + Gravity Control and the nova must
score two successes to gain one success on the Telekinesis lifting chart.
Extras: None
Healing
Level: 3
Quantum Minimum: 4
Dice Pool: N/A
Range: Touch
Area: N/A
Duration: Instant
Effect: Heals one health level of lethal or bashing damage
per quantum point.
Multiple Actions: Yes
Description: This power enables a nova to heal herself or
others. To use Healing, a nova must touch the person to be healed and spend one
quantum point per health level to be healed. The character may heal a number of
bashing health levels up to twice her power rating, or a number of lethal
health levels up to her power rating. This power may be employed only once per
victim per scene.
Alternatively, if a character is suffering from poison or
a disease, each quantum point adds one die to the afflicted character's Resistance
roll. Once the roll succeeds, the poison or disease stops affecting the
character. Any damage already taken can then be healed with a normal
application of Healing.
Healing can even regenerate severed limbs or ruined organs,
but to do so costs double quantum and a Willpower point.
Extras: None
Homunculus
Level: 3
Quantum Minimum: 4
Dice Pool: Stamina + Homunculus
Range: Self
Area: N/A
Duration: Special
Effect: Allows nova to separate parts of his body or
create small creatures from his own body.
Multiple Actions: Special
Description: Similar in many ways to Clone, this power
allows a nova to separate parts of his body yet retain control over them (for
example, detaching his hands and letting them strangle someone on their own), to
create small creatures from his own body, or even to break down his body into a
swarm of tiny creatures. Use of the power does not cause the nova any damage.]
To use Homunculus, the nova spends the required amount of
quantum points and rolls Stamina + Homunculus. Success means that a body part
can be detached or a creature can be created. The creatures in question cannot
be perfect duplicates of the nova — that requires Clone — but they could be
smaller, or warped and twisted, versions of him.
Detached body parts or creatures can move up to 10 meters
per dot in Homunculus away from the character. As long as the character has a
line of sight to them, he can control what they do, just as if they were still
a part of his body. If line of sight is lost, or if they somehow pass beyond
the power's range, they will continue with whatever actions they were
performing until their tasks are completed and then stop moving until line of sight
and range are reestablished.
If a detached body part is attacked, it is considered to
have the same Attributes and Traits as the character, but it acts separately
from the character (i.e., if the character decides to dodge in a particular
turn, his detached body parts do not have to dodge; they can attack, block, or
do whatever else they want, just as if they were separate characters). If one
is stunned or knocked unconscious, the other may continue to act. If the
detached body part is killed, the character loses that part of his body
permanently.
A "small creature" homunculus has no quantum powers,
but it is otherwise considered to have half ratings in the character's normal
Traits (i.e., if the character has a Strength of 4, the homunculus has a
Strength of 2), half normal soak and a Bite/ Claw attack of Str +1 lethal
damage. The player may shift points around if he likes (reducing Strength to
add to Dexterity, for example). If killed, the main character takes one
automatic health level of lethal damage.
At two dots and higher, the character can create more
than one homunculus. At two dots he can create two homunculi; at three dots,
four homunculi; at four dots, six homunculi; at five dots, 10 homunculi. These
homunculi can all be the same, or can be different. It costs no additional
quantum points to create multiple creatures.
Furthermore, if the character has Homunculus 4+, she can
break down her entire body into a "homunculus swarm" of thousands of
insect-sized creatures. The swarm moves at the character's normal speed and can
flow over an opponent, automatically inflicting a number of levels of lethal damage
per turn equal to the power rating (soak protects normally against this
damage). The swarm can flow over multiple opponents; the character simply
divides the levels of lethal damage between or among all appropriate targets.
Thus, if the homunculus swarm could potentially inflict four levels of lethal
damage per turn, the character could flow over three opponents, inflicting two
levels per turn to one foe and one level per turn to the other two. A
homunculus swarm takes a maximum of one health level of damage from most
attacks, but fire, explosion and area attacks affect it normally. It takes only
one turn for a nova to create a single homunculus, but the character can do
nothing else that turn (not even walking). Once created, the homunculus does
not cost quantum points to maintain; it remains at no cost until it recombines
with the original character.
To recombine, two or more homunculi need only touch and
use an action; again, this is the only action they can perform that turn.
Recombining is automatic; it does not require a roll.
Extras: None
Magnetic Mastery
Level: 3
Quantum Minimum: 4
Dice Pool: Variable
Range: Special
Area: Variable
Duration: Variable
Effect: Character is able to manipulate magnetism and
magnetic fields.
Multiple Actions: Yes
Description: A nova with this power is a master of magnetism.
She is able to lift and move metallic objects, project magnetic blasts and
pulses and otherwise control and manipulate the forces of magnetism. If this
power is active, a nova may Block any incoming metal attack, using Dexterity +
Magnetic Mastery as the dice pool. The character may automatically make a
Perception + Magnetic Mastery roll to accomplish minor feats like sensing magnetic
north, gauging the strength of local magnetic fields, and the like.
As with Elemental Anima and Mastery, this power provides
several techniques. A nova may learn and freely use one technique per dot in
the power; she may attempt other techniques, but the player must pay double
quantum points and roll against a difficulty penalty of one to use these
powers. Techniques include:
EMP
Dice Pool: Wits + Magnetic Mastery
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 10 meters
Area: N/A
Duration: Instant
The nova can emit an electromagnetic pulse that disrupts
electronic equipment. To use it, the character pays the required quantum points
and rolls Wits + Magnetic Mastery. The Storyteller opposes this power with a
roll based on the target device's "Stamina." The Storyteller should
determine the machine's Stamina based on how well shielded it is against such
attacks. Most machines have a Stamina of 1 (at most); some military equipment, though,
might have a Stamina of 5 or higher. For each net success the nova achieves,
the machine is unable to function for one hour. At the Storyteller's option, minor
technological devices may be permanently shorted out.
Magnetic Blast
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Magnetic Mastery
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 10 meters
Area: N/A
Duration: Instant
The nova can project a damaging blast of magnetic Force,
similar to a Quantum Bolt. This attack inflicts [Quantum x 2] levels + (power
rating x 3) dice of bashing damage.
Magnetic Field
Dice Pool: Wits + Magnetic Mastery
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 5 meters
Area: (Quantum + power rating) x 3 meters
Duration: Concentration
The nova can create an intense magnetic field in a given
area. This field interferes with electronic equipment. Each success achieved on
a Wits + Magnetic Mastery roll imposes a difficulty penalty of one for any
tasks attempted by or with electronic equipment. At the Storyteller's option,
some shielded equipment may be able to resist this effect with a
"Stamina" roll, as with the EMP power.
Magnetic Levitation
Dice Pool: N/A
Range: Self
Area: N/A
Duration: Maintenance
The nova is able to manipulate ambient magnetic fields to
pick himself up and fly crudely. His flying speed is equal to (power rating x
2) + 20 meters per action, or (40 x power rating) kilometers per hour out of
combat.
Magnetic Shield
Dice Pool: N/A
Range: Self
Area: N/A
Duration: Maintenance
The character can polarize metal weapons and projectiles away
from herself. Each turn, the player can subtract her dots in Magnetic Mastery
from the attack successes of any metal weapon used against her character.
This defense also works against novas whose powers
involve metal.
Magnetic Storm
Dice Pool: N/A
Range: Special
Area: (Quantum + power rating) x 5 meters
Duration: Concentration
This power allows the nova to telekinetically lift all in-range
ferrous objects of 40 kgs or less, then whirl them around him in a sort of
"magnetic tornado." He will not be hurt by the flying objects, but
anyone within the area of effect acts at -2 to all dice pools and takes (power rating
x 2) dice of bashing damage. The damage depends in part on the objects available.
If there are few metallic objects in the vicinity, the Storyteller may reduce
the damage done proportionately. If there are a lot of sharp objects (like
knives or nails), the damage may be lethal.
Magnetize
Dice Pool: Perception + Magnetic Mastery
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 10 meters
Area: N/A
Duration: Maintenance
The nova magnetically charges ferrous metal items within
the vicinity, causing them to attract or repel one another. This could, for
example, wrench a gun from a foe's hand or trap an armored guard against the
metal bars of a prison cell. A magnetically charged ferrous object exerts an
effective "Might" equal to the character's Quantum plus the successes
scored on a Dexterity + Magnetic Mastery roll.
Magnetokinesis
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Magnetic Mastery
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 10 meters
Area: N/A
Duration: Concentration
The nova may use his awesome magnetic powers to pick up
metallic objects. Once he has them he can throw them or hit other characters
with them. This feat mirrors the use of the Telekinesis power, except that the
dice pool is Dexterity + Magnetic Mastery, and only metal objects can be
manipulated.
Extras: None
Matter Chameleon
Level: 3
Quantum Minimum: 5
Dice Pool: Stamina + Matter Chameleon
Range: Self
Area: N/A
Duration: Maintenance
Effect: Allows character to duplicate properties of specific
types of matter.
Multiple Actions: No
Description: Matter Chameleon is similar to Bodymorph,
but instead of allowing a character to assume only one form, it gives her the
power to have her body take on the properties of any type of matter or energy
she touches. If she touches rock, her body becomes as durable and strong as
stone. If she touches tear gas, she becomes intangible and can blind people
with her touch. If she touches water, she can flow through pipes and ignore
many forms of attack. If she touches fire, she becomes a living flame.
To use Matter Chameleon, the nova must pay the required
quantum and touch the form of matter or energy whose properties she wishes to assume
(doing so does not cause her any damage, even if the substance would normally
be damaging), and the player must roll Stamina + Matter Chameleon. Even one
success is sufficient to allow her to assume the properties of that form; as
long as she keeps paying quantum points, she will retain those properties.
Specific Traits granted by Matter Chameleon depend entirely
on the material copied, often including extra Strength, soak, or damaging
effects. The possibilities are nearly endless, and the Storyteller must
ultimately adjudicate as she sees fit. Some general guidelines are:
No substance may provide more damage or soak than the
lower of a) the substance's normal properties; b) the nova's power rating x 3.
No substance may provide more extra Strength levels than the nova's power
rating. Exceptional levels of success may allow for modification of these
guidelines.
For Example: Karen Roper has Strength 4 and Matter Chameleon
4. She sticks her hand into a junction box and scores four successes on a
Stamina + Matter Chameleon roll, thus changing into living electricity.
Although her Matter Chameleon rating is quite high, she can normally inflict no
more than six dice of lethal damage — the
amount of current available from the energy source. However, since Karen scored
four successes on her roll, the Storyteller allows her to inflict eight dice of
lethal damage by touch (after all, she's bigger than a junction box, thus might
have more current running through her). Next, Karen touches a flawless diamond,
scoring a single success on the Stamina + Matter Chameleon roll. The
Storyteller judges that a being made entirely from diamond would have at least
18 extra soak; however, because Karen has Matter Chameleon rating of only 4, she
may gain a maximum of \2 extra soak by duplicating the diamond's structure. The
Storyteller rules that Karen gains two extra dots of Strength (raising Karen's Strength
to Mega-Strength 1) and the equivalent of four dots in the Claws power, as
Karen's fingernails become diamond-hard.
If a nova wishes to use Matter Chameleon as a defense against
an incoming attack (for example, to assume the properties of fire based on
being hit by a blast of flame), she may do so. Doing so does not require an action,
but it is easier if an action is available; if the character does not have a
delayed action to use to do so, she must spend a point of Willpower instead.
She then spends quantum points and rolls Stamina + Matter Chameleon; even one
success allows her to assume that attack's properties, and each success reduces
the damage the attack inflicts by one die or level.
For Example: Karen Roper is attacked by nerve gas. She
rolls Stamina + Matter Chameleon, scoring three successes. The Storyteller
rules that Karen completely ignores the effect of the gas and changes to gas
herself. She gains properties similar to Bodymorph (gas); additionally, anyone
enveloped by Karen will be affected as though doused with nerve gas.
Matter Chameleon has a few other nice side effects, too.
By spending a quantum point, the character can walk on water or other fluids at
normal speed (this does not protect against the effects of fluids like acid or
magma). By spending three quantum points and touching a solid such as a wall or
floor, the character can attune her molecular composition to that substance,
allowing her to "phase" through the solid at normal walking speed. See
Bodymorph for guidelines on the properties possessed by various substances.
Extras: None
CHAPTER FIVE: QUANTUM POWERS
ABERRANT
Matter Creation
Level: 3
Quantum Minimum: 5
Dice Pool: Wits + Matter Creation
Range: (Quantum + power rating) meters
Area: N/A
Duration: Special
Effect: Creates matter of various sorts
Multiple Actions: Yes
Description: A nova with Matter Creation can literally create
matter out of nothingness. He can create matter in its raw form — such as
ordinary iron or wood — or he can create actual objects and devices — such as a
sword, computer or chair.
When creating raw materials, the nova simply rolls Wits +
Matter Creation. The amount of matter created depends on the number of
successes rolled:
Successes Creating objects and Amount of Matter
One 1
kg
Two 10kg
Three 100kg
Four 1,000
kg
Five 10,000kg
Working devices is a little more difficult. The number of
successes required depends upon the nature of the object and the object's size.
Successes Object Complexity
One Simple
Objects: A knife, a cup
Two Complex
Objects: Furniture, a book
Three Simple
Devices: A clock, a lamp
Four Complex
Devices: A desktop computer, an automobile
Five Very
Complex Devices; An air plane, a supercomputer, a missile
Difficulty Object Size
+0 Small:
Anything you could hold in one hand or arm
*1 Medium:
Anything you would need two arms to hold
*2 Large;
Anything you would need two or more people to hold
+3 Very
Large: Anything you would need a forklift to hold
Additional
Difficulties
+2 Radioactive
+3 Unknown
substance; substance that defies normal properties of physics (eufiber, for
example) There is an additional restriction on Matter Creation.
The soak, health levels, and/ or dice of damage the
object provides/ causes may not exceed the creator's Quantum + power rating
total. Thus, a character with Quantum 5 and Matter Creation 3 can create
objects that have eight health levels, provide eight soak and/ or inflict eight
dice of damage (or less); he cannot create an object hard or durable enough to
have nine health levels or provide nine soak.
At the Storyteller's option, creating complicated devices
may require the character to have the skills necessary to build such a device
from scratch. Those Abilities substitute for Wits in the roll. For example, to
create a car, the character would have to roll Engineering + Matter Creation.
Once created, the substance or object remains in existence
for one hour per dot in Matter Creation. A substance or object can be made
permanent at the cost of a point of permanent Willpower.
Extras: None
Molecular Manipulation
Level: 3
Quantum Minimum: 5
Dice Pool: Variable
Range: Variable
Area: Variable
Duration: Special
Effect: This power gives a character the ability to manipulate
and control molecules.
Multiple Actions: Yes
Description: A nova with this power wields ultimate control
over inorganic and unliving organic molecules. While he cannot change or affect
living things in any way, his power is still quite impressive.
By spending a quantum point, a molecular manipulation can
make a Perception + Molecular Manipulation roll to identify the chemical
composition and properties of any substance within a range of [Quantum + power rating]
x 20 meters.
As with Elemental Anima and Mastery, this power provides
several techniques. A nova may learn and freely use one technique per dot in
the power; she may attempt other techniques, but the player must pay double
quantum cost and roll against a difficulty penalty of one to activate these
powers. Techniques include:
Animation
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Molecular Manipulation
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 3 meters
Area: N/A
Duration: Concentration
The nova may "animate" inanimate objects,
giving them a crude sort of quasi-life. Wheeled objects roll, furniture and
other items with legs walk or run and other objects do their best to hop or
otherwise motivate themselves. The character may animate one object of roughly human
size for each success on the player's Intelligence + Molecular Manipulation
roll. Thus, animating a couch, which is approximately twice the size of a
normal human, would take two successes. Animated objects move at the
character's walking pace, but this speed may increase to his running pace if he
spends an additional quantum point.
Animated objects can attack targets. The Storyteller determines
the objects' Strength, Stamina and health levels based on their size and the
materials they are made; an object's Dexterity is equal to the character's
normal Wits Attribute. If the object has any special abilities (such as a gun,
which could shoot others while animated), it may use them; the Storyteller should
determine the exact effects and appropriate damage.
Destruction
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Molecular Manipulation
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 10 meters
Area: N/A
Duration: Instant
The character unravels or destroys the molecular bonds
holding an unliving object together, causing it to disintegrate. Doing so
inflicts Quantum + Molecular Manipulation health levels of damage to the target
object.
Objects may soak; the Storyteller should determine how much
damage they can soak based on the materials they are made of and how well they
are constructed.
Molecular Alteration
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Molecular Manipulation
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 5 meters
Area: N/A
Duration: Permanent
The character can convert the molecules of an unliving
solid or liquid into molecules of another unliving solid or liquid, thus, for
example, transforming a wooden chair into a steel chair. The nature of the
changes a character can enact with Molecular Alteration depends upon the number
of successes he achieves on an Intelligence + Molecular Manipulation roll.
Successes Transmutation
One Change
Substance: The character may change the elements or substance of which an
object is made, but he cannot change the object's shape or size. A wooden chair
becomes a chair of solid gold; a steel knife becomes a knife of silk.
Two Change
Size: As Change Substance, plus the character can make the object larger or
smaller by up to 20% per success over one (20% at the minimum two successes
needed For this effect; 40% at three successes; and so forth).
Three Change
Shape: As Change Size, plus the object's shape can be changed. A wooden chair
can be transformed into a lump of gold; a steel knife becomes a dress of silk.
Four Change
Complexity: As Change Size, plus the object's nature or complexity can be
transformed — it can be made into working electrical circuits and moving parts.
Thus, a tree can be changed into a working computer or a car.
The character may not create objects from thin air; that
requires Matter Creation.
At the Storyteller's option, creating devices with Change
Complexity may require the character to have the skills necessary to build such
a device from scratch. Those Abilities substitute for Intelligence in the roll.
For example, to create a car, the character would have to roll Engineering +
Molecular Manipulation.
Once created, the substance or object remains in existence
for one hour per dot in Molecular Manipulation. A substance or object can be
made permanent at the cost of a point of permanent Willpower.
Second Skin
Dice Pool: N/A
Range: Self
Area: N/A
Duration: Maintenance
By hardening air molecules in a film about himself, the
nova can protect himself with a layer of armor. For each dot in Molecular
Alteration, the nova gains +2 soak versus bashing and lethal damage.
Shape Alteration
Dice Pool: Wits + Molecular Manipulation
Range: Touch
Area: N/A
Duration: Special
The character can alter the shape of inanimate objects. He
can alter the shape of 10 kilograms of any given substance per success rolled
on an Intelligence + Molecular Manipulation roll. He need not affect an entire object
to alter its shape, but he can alter only that part of the object which he is
able to affect. He can cause a hole to open in the object (handy for getting
through locked doors), make it grow crude arms or legs, or just change its
appearance or ability to function. The changes remain until the nova reverses
them or repairs are made. A nova with this power can attempt to repair
inorganic objects. The nova must have at least some knowledge of the subject to
be fixed (generally speaking, at least one dot in Engineering). The nova then
rolls Molecular Manipulation + Engineering (or other appropriate Ability); each
success repairs one "health level" of damage suffered by the object.
Extras: None
Pretercognition
Level: 3
Quantum Minimum: 4
Dice Pool: Perception + Pretercognition
Range: Self
Area: N/A
Duration: Instant
Effect: Allows character to foresee future (or view past)
events; number of successes determines timeframe.
Multiple Actions: No
Description: Pretercognition allows a nova to foresee future
events or grants glimpses of the past. The timeframe within which the character
can "view" events is based on the number of successes achieved on a
Perception + Pretercognition roll.
Successes Timeframe
One Up
to one hour per dot
Two Up
to one day per dot
Three Up
to one week per dot
Four Up
to one month per dot
Five Up
to one year per dot
Six Up
to 10 years per dot
For dramatic purposes, the Storyteller may, at his discretion,
increase the timeframe. For example, if a nova with Pretercognition found an
ancient Egyptian artifact, the Storyteller might let her "read"
images associated with its creation, even though it is thousands of years old,
because those visions contain a clue she needs to solve a mystery.
Storytellers should be very careful about allowing this
power in their series. It can have an enormous impact on the characters'
actions and on society, and it can make it virtually impossible to run
scenarios that revolve around mysteries or puzzles. However, there's no guarantee
that the visions received are absolutely accurate....
Extras: None
Quantum Construct
Level: 3
Quantum Minimum: 4; must also have Force Field • or
better
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Quantum Construct
Range: (Quantum + power rating) meters
Area: N/A
Duration: Maintenance
Effect: This power enables the character to create "creatures"
or objects out of quantum force; the number of successes achieved indicates
what beings can be summoned and how many.
Multiple Actions: No
Description: A nova with Quantum Construct is capable of generating
raw quantum forces, then shaping them into animate creatures that act at the
nova's whim. Many novas with this power use it to summon "demons" and
other such creatures of legend. Regardless of the creatures' appearance,
though, they are obviously made from quantum forces — a character with control
over electromagnetic energies might summon constructs of living lightning,
radiant energy or the like. Quantum Construct cannot create a duplicate of a
specific person or the like.
To use Quantum Construct, a nova must spend the required
quantum points and roll Manipulation + Quantum Construct. The number of
successes indicate what type of creature can be summoned.
Characters may create more than one being in some circumstances.
First, if they want a being smaller than those listed on the chart, they may
"divide" the listed size up among multiple beings. For example, with
two successes, a nova could create one human-sized being, two beings of half
human size, four beings of one-quarter human size or a larger number of mouse-
or insect-sized creatures. Second, if the character achieves more successes
than needed to create the being he wants, he may use the extra successes to
increase the numbers — each extra success doubles the number of constructs. For
example, suppose a nova wants to summon a human-sized demon, and the player
rolls four successes. The two additional successes double his numbers twice,
allowing him to summon four demons.
Successes Being(s) Summoned
One One
being no larger than a sheep (Strength and Stamina 1, Dexterity 3, four health
levels)
Two One
being no larger than a human (All Physical Attributes 2, normal human health
levels)
Three One
being no larger than twice human size (Strength and Stamina 4, Dexterity
2, eight health levels)
Four One
being no larger than four times human size (Mega-Strength I/Strength 4, Stamina
4, Dexterity 2, +1 soak, 10 "Hurt" health levels)
Five One
being no larger than eight times human size (Mega-Strength 2/Strength 4,
Stamina 4, Dexterity 2, +2 soak, 12 "Hurt" health levels)
Constructs are simply shaped matrices of quantum energy;
they are directed by their creator, have no Mental, Social or Willpower Traits,
and are immune to attacks dependent on those Traits (For example, Domination or
Dreadful Mien). Furthermore, constructs feel no pain and suffer no wound
penalties. Constructs can, however, be dispelled by powers such as Disrupt.
Some constructs may have additional powers. A creation
success can be converted into five nova points, which are used to provide
Mega-Attributes or quantum powers to the summoned creatures. All such creatures
have a Quantum Trait of 1 and 22 quantum points unless the nova spends creation
successes to raise Quantum (one success per one additional Quantum dot).
The nova who summoned the constructs may (at any time and
any range) "banish" them, dispersing them into the surrounding
medium. No roll is required to do so.
Ultimately, the Storyteller is responsible for coming up
with the game statistics and rules for created constructs, though he may let
the player do the work and simply review and approve what the player creates.
The Storyteller should be careful not to let this power unbalance or ruin the
game; just because a nova has the ability to summon an army of demonic soldiers
doesn't mean he should be allowed to.
This power is extremely wrenching to the surroundings, and
it is best used only once a scene. If a nova attempts to use it more than once
per scene, each additional attempt costs double the quantum points and incurs a
difficulty penalty of one.
Extras: None
Quantum Imprint
Level: 3
Quantum Minimum: 4
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Quantum Imprint
Range: Touch
Area: N/A
Duration: Maintenance
Effect: Copies the powers and abilities of character touched.
Multiple Actions: No
Description: Quantum Imprint allows a nova to copy the
quantum signature of another nova. By touching another nova, he can duplicate
some or all of that nova's powers in himself. The nova touched does not lose
any of his powers or suffer any injury.
To use Quantum Imprint, the nova must make a Dexterity +
Quantum Imprint roll to touch the victim. If the touch succeeds, the nova may
copy one of the victim's Attributes, skills, abilities or powers for each dot
he has in Quantum Imprint — but he may only copy them up to his number of dots
in Quantum Imprint. For example, if a nova has Quantum Imprint 2 and wants to
copy two of another nova's powers, he may do so, but he only gets two dots in
each power, even if the other nova has five dots in them. He may also never
gain more dots or use the power at a greater level of effect than the target nova
— for example, if a nova with Quantum 5 and Quantum Imprint 5 steals a Quantum
Bolt from a nova with Quantum 2 and Quantum Bolt 2, the Quantum Bolt can inflict
no greater damage than permitted with Quantum 2 and Quantum Bolt 2. The nova
must also pay one more quantum point to use a stolen power than he would have to
pay if he had that power "naturally." Thus, the nova in the previous
example would have to pay three quantum points to throw his copied Quantum
Bolt.
Furthermore, when using his imprinted powers, the nova
may only roll the base Attribute — he does not get to roll any dice for the
power itself. For example, if a nova imprinted two dots' worth of Quantum Bolt,
he would roll only his Dexterity, not Dexterity + Quantum Bolt, when
determining the power's effects.
Extras: None
Shapeshift
Level: 3
Quantum Minimum: 4
Dice Pool: Stamina + Shapeshift
Range: Self
Area: N/A
Duration: Maintenance
Effect: Allows character to alter her shape; the degree
of alteration depends upon the successes achieved.
Multiple Actions: Yes
Description: Shapeshift is one of the most versatile nova
powers. It allows a nova to use quantum energies to reshape her own body. With
the proper degree of power and skill, she can turn herself into various
animals, pieces of furniture or just about anything else she can think of.
Once a character has so much as a single dot in this power,
she is able to alter her shape. However, she might not be able to make her
transformation complete — it requires considerable precision to copy every
detail of an object. An untrained nova might, for example, turn himself into a
tiger but not manage to create the claws; or she could change shape into a bird
but not create the wings properly, so she would not be able to fly. More experienced
shapeshifters rarely have these problems. The degree of change a character can
work on her own body depends on the number of successes achieved on a Stamina +
Shapeshift roll. If even one success is achieved, the character can alter her
shape, but not her size or mass, and she cannot simulate any powers or Mega-Attribute
enhancements. Successes beyond the first may be divided among the powers or
enhancements that the character wishes to simulate. For example, if the character
wants to assume the form of an eagle and rolls five successes, she could
allocate one success each to Claws and Flight and two to Shrinking to simulate
her eagle body. Some examples of powers and enhancements often used by
shapeshifters include: Armor, Body Modification (each Body Modification costs
one dot), Claws, Clinging, Flight, Growth, Shrinking and Life Support.
When simulating a power that requires a roll, the
character substitutes her Stamina + Shapeshift skill total for the power's
normal dice pool. A nova may put no more dots into a duplicated power than she
has in the Shapeshift power; for example, a nova with Shapeshift 3 who wishes
to turn her skeleton into armored plates may not convert more than three
Shapeshift successes into Armor dots.
A nova can use Shapeshift to disguise herself as someone
else. Looking like a generic "other person" requires only one
success. Imitating a specific person requires at least two successes. Doing so
allows the character to simulate the Mega-Appearance enhancement Copycat.
Note that the Storyteller is perfectly within her rights
to deny simulated powers she feels are unreasonable for the shape assumed.
Generally speaking, Shapeshift may duplicate only physical powers; for example,
a character who shapeshifts into a dragon might well gain Sizemorph (Grow),
Claws and Armor powers, but he could not gain the ability to breathe fire
(Quantum Bolt).
Extras: None
Temporal Manipulation
Level: 3
Quantum Minimum: 5
Dice Pool: Variable
Range: Variable
Area: N/A
Duration: Variable
Effect: Character can manipulate time.
Multiple Actions: Yes
Description: This exceedingly rare power gives a nova
control over that most basic, yet mysterious, of phenomena — time itself. He
can alter or reverse time to achieve a number of effects, but he cannot
actually travel through time. That has proved beyond the abilities of even the
most powerful novas.
As with Elemental Anima and Mastery, this power provides
several techniques. A nova may learn and freely use one technique per dot in
the power; she may attempt other techniques, but the player must pay double
quantum cost and roll against a difficulty penalty of one to activate these
powers. Techniques include:
Internal Clock
Range: Self
Area: N/A
Duration: Permanent
This technique is known automatically by all time-manipulators
and does not use up a dot in the power. A character with Temporal Manipulation
possesses a highly accurate internal clock. He always knows exactly how much
time has passed between two events, and he can mentally time events as if using
an extremely precise stopwatch. This ability requires no roll and costs no
quantum points; it functions automatically.
Age Alteration
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Temporal Manipulation
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 5 meters
Area: N/A
Duration: Instant
This ability allows a nova to make another person age
rapidly or regress back to his youth. For each success achieved on a
Manipulation + Temporal Manipulation roll, the nova may add or subtract up to
two years From the target's age; the target may resist with a Stamina roll. For
reasons as yet unknown to science, this ability has no effect on the size or
power of another nova's Mazarin-Rashoud node. It also does not affect the victim's
mind or memories. A victim of Age Alteration will simply have to live with the
effects ever after unless he can get another time-manipulator to reverse them. Age
Alteration can also be used on objects. Decreasing their age will repair minor
damage (wear and tear) and make them look newer and shinier. Every two years
added to an object inflicts one health level of damage on it, possibly causing
it to crumble into ruin.
Accelerate Time
Dice Pool: Wits + Temporal Manipulation
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 10 meters
Area: N/A
Duration: Maintenance
This ability allows a nova to put himself or another person
inside a bubble of "fast time." Doing so makes the character move and
act much more quickly than a person in a normal time frame. Each success on a
Temporal Manipulation roll allows the character to take one additional action
per turn. These actions are not multiple actions; they are extra actions.
However, they may be used only to take additional physical actions (punching, running,
or dodging, for example, but not using more Temporal Manipulation powers). The
nova's power rating dictates the maximum number of extra actions that may be
gained.
Dilate Time
Dice Pool: Wits + Temporal Manipulation
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 10 meters
Area: N/A
Duration: Maintenance
Dilate Time is the reverse of Accelerate Time; it allows
a nova to slow down another character by slowing the flow of time around him.
Each success on an Intelligence + Temporal Manipulation roll reduces the
victim's Initiative rating by one. If Initiative falls below 1, the victim is
treated as having an Initiative rating of 1, but he may act only once every
other turn.
Stop Time
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Temporal Manipulation
Range: (Quantum + power rating) meters
Area: N/A
Duration: Maintenance
This power is perhaps the most potent one in the Temporal
Manipulator's arsenal. It allows him literally to stop time around a specific
person or object. That person cannot move or use any powers or Abilities, he
does not age and he cannot be affected by (and is unaware of) any outside
force, phenomenon or attack while in suspension. Stop Time is very difficult to
set up — the nova's player must achieve a success on an Intelligence + Temporal
Manipulation roll at a difficulty penalty of two, and a living victim may make
a Willpower roll to resist. Once established, the effect lasts as long as the
character pays quantum points to maintain it.
Extras: None
Warp
Level: 3
Quantum Minimum: 3
Dice Pool: N/A
Range: (Quantum + power rating) meters
Area: N/A
Duration: Special
Effect: Allows character to create "gates"
permitting her or other characters to move without passing through the
intervening space.
Multiple Actions: No
Description: Warp is similar to Teleport in many ways —
it involves the same method of moving without passing through intervening
space. However, whereas Teleportation normally works on one person only (the
nova who possesses it), Warp creates a "gate" that anyone can use.
It takes an entire turn to create a warp; the nova may
take no other actions during this turn. Warps are typically three meters
square; the nova may alter the shape by one meter (either dimension) per dot.
Anything that cannot fit through the warp cannot use it.
Warps are usually opened up at ground level, but a nova may
create a warp anywhere within his range.
To use Warp, a nova simply spends the required quantum
points. In combat or other stressful situations, a warp can teleport anyone who
passes through it up to 100 meters per success; if the nova has a full turn to concentrate,
Warp can teleport persons a variable distance, as shown on the accompanying
table. In either case, each point of Quantum she has counts as an additional automatic
success. Passing through a warp voluntarily counts as one of a character's
actions for a turn.
Successes Distance
One two
kilometers
Two 20
kilometers
Three 200
kilometers
Four 2000
kilometers
Five 20000
kilometers
Each success beyond five multiplies the warp distance by
a factor of 10.
A nova may use Warp as an attack by opening it up in front
of a target. A moving target may dodge to avoid passing through it; this dodge
takes no time. A nonmoving target may be "enveloped" by the warp if
the nova's player succeeds with a Dexterity + Warp roll; the target resists that
roll with an Athletics roll. Doing so is always a "combat" warp; a
nova could not, for example, warp a foe into the vacuum of space unless she had
a full turn to concentrate and the victim was helpless to dodge the warp.
Characters can see through the warp (unless conditions on
one "side" of it prevent sight) and will know where they are going
before they pass through it.
Extras: None
Weather Manipulation
Level: 3
Quantum Minimum: 4
Dice Pool: Variable
Range: Variable
Area: Variable
Duration: Variable
Effect: Character may alter and manipulate weather.
Multiple Actions: Yes
Description: Weather Manipulation provides the character
with power over weather in its many aspects. As with Elemental Anima and
Mastery, this power provides several techniques. A nova may learn and freely use
one technique per dot in the power; she may attempt other techniques, but the
player must pay double quantum cost and roll against a difficulty penalty of
one to activate these powers. Techniques include:
Alter Temperature
Dice Pool: N/A
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 2 kilometers
Area: (Quantum + power rating) x 5 kilometers
Duration: Maintenance
The character can increase or decrease the temperature of
the air in an area around himself. The temperature can be altered by 10 degrees
Celsius per dot in Weather Manipulation. No roll is required to do so, but quantum
points must be paid.
Fog
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Weather Manipulation
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 5 meters
Area: (Quantum + power rating) x 10 meters
Duration: Maintenance
The character is able to create a thick bank of fog over
a wide area (or, if the player prefers, hard, driving rain which is so thick as
to inhibit vision). The fog interferes with sight, making driving and other
forms of movement hazardous. Each success achieved on an intelligence + Weather
Manipulation roll adds one to the difficulties of all visual Perception rolls
made to see into or through the fog. The fog lasts as long as the character
pays quantum points to maintain it, then dissipates at normal rates For the current
environmental conditions.
Lightning Bolt
Dice Pool: Dexterity + Weather Manipulation
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 10 meters
Area: N/A
Duration: Instant
The character may project bolts of lightning. These inflict
[Quantum x 2] levels + (power rating x 2) dice of lethal damage. Typically the
bolts are projects from the character's hands, but the player may have them
strike down From stormclouds, for dramatic purposes, if he wishes; however,
this effect should not provide any bonuses to hit a target or other combat
benefits.
Weather Alteration
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Weather Manipulation
Range: (Quantum + power rating) x 2 kilometers
Area: (Quantum + power rating) x 5 kilometers
Duration: Maintenance
This effect is the most basic of the Weather Manipulator's
abilities. He can, as the power's name indicates, alter weather patterns over a
large area. For each success achieved on an Intelligence + Weather Manipulation
roll, he may adjust the current weather conditions up or down one step on the
following table.
Weather
Phenomena Table
Sweltering Heat
Clear/Sunny
Cloudy/Hazy
Drizzle
Rainstorm (or snow, if temperature makes it possible)
Strong Rain/Thunderstorm Gale
Hurricane/Tornado/Typhoon/Blizzard
Thus, if the current weather is a rainstorm (and the player
of a nova achieves two successes on his Intelligence + Weather Manipulation
roll), a nova may increase it up to a gale or decrease it to cloudy/ hazy. If
the nova changes the weather conditions to gale or higher, the effect is
treated as the Storm technique of Elemental Mastery.
Windriding
Dice Pool: N/A
Range: Self
Area: N/A
Duration: Maintenance
The character manipulates winds so that they carry him,
similar to Flight. The character can move at the rate of (power rating x 2) +
20 meters per action, or (40 kilometers per hour x power rating) out of combat.
Players can create other Weather Manipulation techniques if they wish, but the
Storyteller must review and approve all such techniques.
Extras: None