Mega-Perception
Scientists theorize that normal humans use only a
fraction of their ability to observe things. Ask a normal person to describe
what he just walked past, and he probably won't be able to tell you too many
details about it, if any. That's not true of novas with Mega-Perception. They
take it all in — every detail, every nuance, every
little fact. They may not remember them very long (that's a function of
Intelligence), but they don't overlook things. They make excellent sentinels,
guards, detectives and trackers.
Novas with Mega-Perception almost always have a high
Awareness skill. They often have high ratings in other
"observational" skills, such as Investigation, but such is not always
the case.
• Stupendous: You remember the license-plate numbers of
all the cars you just walked past in the parking lot.
•• Amazing: Even the tiniest details are like information
beacons to you.
••• Incredible: You can tell what a person is thinking by
the way the nerves in her face twitch.
•••• Spectacular: You can locate a single person in an
auditorium by her body odor or perfume.
••••• Godlike: You can hear wool growing on the backs of
sheep.
Mega-Perception
Enhancements
Enhancements that characters with Mega-Perception may
learn or purchase include:
Analytic Taste/Touch
There are plenty of gourmets out there who can figure out
what spices were used in a particular dish by tasting it. A nova with this
power can go them one better: He can detect everything in the food. Give him a
casserole, and he'll tell you every ingredient in it, as well as how much of
each was used. Give him a pretzel, and he can tell you how many grains of salt
there are on it. Give him poisoned food, and he will detect the poison as soon
as he touches it with his tongue, then spit the food out immediately before the
poison can affect him.
The character's sense of touch is also enhanced. Everyone
knows what a dollar bill feels like — it's got a unique feeling like no other
type of paper. Mix a dollar up with a bunch of pieces of newspaper and other
papers, and someone can still find it by touch but only a nova with Analytic
Touch can tell you without looking whether it's a twenty or a c-note.
A character with this enhancement may use both functions.
System: With Analytic Taste, the character's sense of
taste is so heightened that he can determine the composition and nature of food
he eats, as described previously. This enhancement is most useful for detecting
poison or other tampering, but it has other uses as well. If the Storyteller
decides that a particular substance is present in only trace quantities, he may
require a Perception or Awareness roll to allow the character to detect it. But
even in such situations, the character receives a minimum of three extra dice
when making any Perception roll based on taste. Furthermore, by flicking his
tongue in and out of his mouth in the manner of a snake, the character can
halve any penalties relating to darkness, as the character literally
"tastes" vibrations in the air.
With Analytic Touch, the character's sense of touch is so
heightened that he can differentiate many objects by touch alone. This ability
can be extremely useful if the character cannot see. It also provides bonuses
in situations where an acute sense of feel would be helpful — such as lockpicking or trying to figure out the combination to a
safe by feeling the tumblers fall into place. The character receives a minimum
of three extra dice when making any Perception roll based on touch.
Furthermore, the character's skin is so sensitive that he can sense faint air
currents, which adds two dice to Awareness skill totals when attempting to
detect stealthy opponents like invisible novas.
This enhancement is always on and costs no quantum points
to use.
Blindfighting
Most people are helpless when blind — particularly in
combat — but not this character. Thanks to his enhanced senses, he can perceive
where his foes are even when he cannot see them. Some Asian (or
Asian-influenced) novas snidely refer to this enhancement as "Zen
fighting."
System: The character is not subject to the difficulty
penalty for fighting blind. In some situations, such as those with bad or
glaring lighting, he might even be better off to shut his eyes and fight
without using his sight. Similarly, if an opponent is using the power
Invisibility to escape detection, a nova with Blindfighting
can determine exactly where his invisible enemy is by making an Awareness roll
(opponent resists with her Invisibility + Stealth dice pool).
This enhancement costs one quantum point and lasts for a
scene.
Bloodhound
Like the animal for which it is named, this enhancement
allows a nova to track a person by scent.
System: The character may make an
Awareness roll to follow someone by scent alone. If the scent is
particularly strong (for example, the person hasn't bathed in a week), reduce
the difficulty by one. If the person being tracked passes through an area with
a lot of other scents (like a crowded city street), walks through a stream or
does anything else that might confuse or mask his scent, the nova must make
another roll at an increased difficulty (+2 or more, usually).
If the nova is exposed to a particularly strong odor —
such as having pepper thrown in her face — her Bloodhound ability is
temporarily "blinded." Until she can get that scent out of her nose,
which could take anywhere from a turn to an hour depending on the
circumstances, she won't be able to follow any scents.
This enhancement is always on and costs no quantum points
to use.
Electromagnetic Vision
By processing and amplifying waves in the middle end of
the electromagnetic spectrum (infrared, visible light, ultraviolet), the
character provides herself with a number of sensory abilities.
System: The character spends a quantum point to activate
the power for (Perception + Mega-Perception) turns. While doing so, the
character gains an additional three dice on any Awareness roll related to
vision. Additionally, this enhancement provides a number of benefits:
• Ultraviolet vision: The character can see in the
ultraviolet ("UV") spectrum, allowing her to see clearly and without
penalty whenever UV illumination (such as from the sun, moon or stars) is
present. Like a cat, she is able to see in conditions of very little light. The
character can see as well in darkness as in daylight, provided that there is at
least some light (even faint starlight is enough). If she is in total blackness
(such as an unlit underground room), she cannot see.
• Infrared vision: The character is able to see in the
infrared ("1R") spectrum. Not only can she see anything illuminated
by an 1R light, she can see the heat given off by
living things and hot objects. Hot things appear "bright," cool
things "dark."
• Visible light attuner: The character
can magnify objects in her line of sight, as though she were a high-powered
telescopic scope or electron microscope. Usually, novas use this ability to
view tiny objects which would ordinarily be beyond the character's range of
vision, but it can also help see objects at a distance. The character can also
see distant objects as if they were close up. For each dot of Mega-Perception,
the character can magnify distant or tiny images by a factor of 10 (x100 at
Mega-Perception 2, x1000 at Mega-Perception 3, etc.). Use of this enhancement
negates range penalties, as well as difficulty penalties suffered when striking
at characters with the power of Sizemorph
(Shrinking).
High-End Electromagnetic Scan
The character can transmit and receive waves from the
gamma- and x-ray end of the electromagnetic spectrum. This allows him to
"see" through solid objects, at a range equal to (Perception +
Mega-Perception) x 20 meters.
System: By spending a quantum point, taking an action and
making a Perception roll, the character may see through solid objects. The
Storyteller may increase the difficulty to scan through particularly dense
objects.
Extras: None
Hyperenhanced Hearing
A nova with this enhancement can hear and transmit sounds
that are too high-pitched or low-pitched to be audible to the normal human ear,
such as dog whistles, radio waves, or security devices that utilize ultrasonic
sound.
System: The character spends a quantum point to activate
the power for (Perception + Mega-Perception) turns. While doing so, the
character gains an additional three dice on any Awareness, Intrusion or other
appropriate roll related to hearing. Additionally, this enhancement provides a
number of benefits:
• Infra/ultrasonic hearing: Most characters cannot hear
infrasonic or ultrasonic sound at all. A nova with this enhancement can, though
the Storyteller may require an Awareness roll if the sound is extremely soft or
distant — just like he would with any normal whisper or distant sound.
• Sonar: Like a bat, the nova can emit sonar waves which
travel away from her, hit objects and "bounce" back to their source.
This sense tells the character where things are, how big they are and other
gross physical qualities. On the other hand, sonar does not reveal Finer details or visual details, such as the number of
fingers on a hand, color, fine texture or print. Sonar works in a 360-degree
radius around the character and are sufficiently
accurate to allow the character to launch attacks without any loss of dice or
other penalties. Sonar can be detected with Radio Scan.
• Radio scan: The name of this technique is slightly
misleading, since it actually allows the character to perceive all broadcast
waves, including radio, television and cellular telephone transmissions. The
character may also transmit along such wavelengths, though he can transmit
voice only.
The character may voluntarily "shut off" the
sense (to keep from being inundated with signals). He can also edit out
specific frequencies so that he hears only a specific radio broadcast rather
than all radio broadcasts, television, and other broadcasts.
Quantum Attunement
The character can sense the ebbs and flows of quantum
energies in her vicinity. This gives her a hyperenhanced
perception, allowing her to sense her surroundings on the molecular level, even
if her other senses have been incapacitated. The character must still face in
the genera! direction of what she wishes to perceive.
System: By spending one quantum point per turn, the
character can attune herself to quantum energies in the
area. Among other things, this allows the character to make an Awareness roll
to sense her surroundings even if completely deprived of one or more senses.
The character can also scan other novas by making a Medicine roll; this allows
the character to sense the rough level of Quantum, Node and Taint Traits
possessed by the other nova. With three or more successes, the character might
be able to guess at the other nova's powers, though the Storyteller should
describe this in narrative terms, as eddies and shifts in the local quantum
flow (e.g., "Your foe clenches his fists, and quantum forces begin
seething around his outstretched hands" as opposed to "He's going to
throw a Quantum Bolt"; "When she stretches, nuclear forces scream and
hiss around her frame," as opposed to "She's got Mega-Strength
4").
Ultraperipheral Perception
Sometimes you'll hear someone described as "having
eyes in the back of his head." A nova with this enhancement just about
meets that description. He can sense all around himself more or less as readily
as he can look straight ahead.
System: A character with Ultraperipheral
Perception can perceive things in a 360-degree circle around himself without
turning his head. This enhancement prevents a character from being surprised by
people sneaking up on him from behind. Attackers do not gain flank or rear
attack bonuses to hit him. It also allows him to keep track of everything
surrounding him.
This effect costs a quantum point and lasts for a scene.