ORICHALCUM UNIVERSE: Updated House Psi Modifications...
Johnny1a
modified 3e version. Some of the psionics rules modifications I've
set up are detailed in this thread, I did an earlier, incomplete
version of this here:
OK, to begin with, there are seven basic Psionic Powers, and all
psions have, at least in theoretical potential, all of them. (Antipsi
_can_ coexist with the other Powers). The Powers are:
ANTIPSI
ESP
PROBABILITY PSI
PSYCHOBIOETICS
PSYCHOKINESIS
TELEPATHY
TELEPORTATION
(The other 3w Powers are either subsumed into these, or don't exist.)
ANTIPSI: Works more or less as detailed in GURPS (3e) Psionics,
though with high skill levels (16+) the Neutralize skill can be made
highly selective, the psion is able to use the skill to interfere with
or reduce specific Powers without interfering with others. At skill
20+, the same can be done with Psi Static.
(Note that for most Homosentients, Antipsi is the strongest Power, and
is tuned by evolution to 'jam' the other Powers of the individual.
For an analogy, imagine people born with working eyes, but eyelids
that default to 'shut' so that most people don't even realize they
_can_ see.)
Next up: ESP
Johnny1a
ESP (3 pts level):
Most skills work as described in GURPS (3e) Psionics. However,
Clairvoyance, Clairaudience, and the other ESPer senses have two
'modes', sometimes more than two. The first mode works
straightforwardly as described in GURPS Psionics. The second mode is
much less range-limited, but also far less controllable. Also, there
is a unified skill that combines the various ESPer sense-analogues.
This skill is called simply Awareness.
Awareness Skill (M/VH), prerequisites, Clairvoyance, Clairaudience,
Clairsentience (Touch, Taste, and Smell) all at minimum skill of 12.
The Awareness skill combines these skills into one, using the
Clairaudience range and requiring only a single skill roll for all
forms.
The second mode of the Clair(senses) (as well as Precognition and
Retrocognition) removes the basic range limitations, but also makes
them difficult to control. Range becomes highly uncertain (GM's
discretion) and what the psion 'perceives' is also at GM's
discretion. Some psions can use the second mode at will with a Will
role at -3, some experience it uncontrollably. Once either form of
the second mode begins, in ends only at GM discretion or if the psion
stops it with another Will role.
An uncontrollable manifestation of the second mode can be ended with a
Will role at -4, or 'controlled' at -6. Even an intentional use of
the second mode requires Will roles at -6 to 'control' once it begins,
and -3 to stop. An uncontrolled manifestation _may_ occur in senses
lacking a matching skill, or a vision of past or future even if the
ESPer lacks precognition or retrocognition, in which case the psion
can not control it, only try to end it.
This second mode is called 'wild viewing'.
EXAMPLE: Jill Andrews has ESP Power 10 with the Clairvoyance and
Clairaudience skills. In their normal operating form they work as
described by GURPS rules, she can 'see' 100 inches (Power squared in
inches) and she can 'hear' at 100 yards (Power squared in yards). She
can control these abilities as normal under GURPS rules. She also
attempt a deliberate 'wild view', and sometimes suffers from undesired
wild views under extreme stress.
So, Jill, while in her home in Dublin, wishes to engage in a wild
view, she roles vs. her Will at -3 and succeeds. Immediately her
Clairvoyance and Clairaudience abilities sweep out, and she finds
herself viewing a baseball game at New Busch Stadium in St. Louis,
Mo. She can both see and hear the game because she has both talents,
in addition a wild element gives her the sense of smell, she can smell
the popcorn and hot dogs.
Jill can _not_ control what the wild view shows her before hand in any
way, but once it begins she can _try_ to control it by rolling vs her
Will at -6. On a success she can 'look around' from the starting
point of her view, _as if she was there_, to focus on some one part of
the vision or pull back for a wide look, etc. She can _not_ try to
control the sense of smell, though, since she lacks that particular
ESP skill. As she observes the game, she realizes she is seeing a
game in 2011, it's a vision of a potential future! Since she lacks
Precognition skill, she can make no effort to control or change the
time rate or frame.
If the control roll fails she only is shown what the wild view 'wants'
her to see (GM discretion).
The GM can end the vision at any time. Likewise, Jill can _try_ to
end it at any time by rolling vs Will at -3, on a success the vision
ends and she is 'normal'. A failed roll means the vision continues,
swamping her physical senses (she appears to be in a trance in Dublin
to others) and she must try again to end it if the GM does not, with
the usual penalties for repeat attempts. If her effective skill drops
to low she is trapped until the vision ends on its own.
(Others can attempt to help her end it by trying to get her attention
in the real world, any such effort will succeed in 'snapping her out
of it' if she rolls successfully vs. Will without penalty).
Naturally, the more sensory skills an ESPer has, the more potentially
useful a wild view can be, and the more 'control' he or she can
potentially exercise.
A 'wild view' can strike Jill against her will on any critical failure
of a Will roll or a fear check or a horror check, it works similarly
except that it is harder to end (-4 instead of -3), and attempts by
others to break her out of the trance are at -1. For reasons psions
only partly understand, unintentional 'wild views' tend to reveal
things and places further afield in space and time.
Note on the retrogression skill: not possible in my universe.
There are also more specialized and advanced ESP skills available in
my universe, but that's for another thread, this thread is to go over
the basics.
Next up: Probability Psi and Psychobioetics
Johnny1a
PROBABILITY PSI (5 pts/level: This needs more depth than we have time
for right now. Suffice it to say that any character with any level of
the Luck OR Unluck Advantage/Disadvantage _might_ be a latent psion
with Probability Psi Power.
PSYCHOBIOETICS (5 pts/level): This is the Psionic Power of bodily
healing, control, and interaction, in subsumes the Healing Power in
the standard 3e GURPS psi system, as well as some bits of other things
from the standard system. Some of the skills associated with this
Power include the following:
Autohealing (M/VH) The basic ability of psychic healing, working only
on oneself. It can be used to in the usual sense of the ability as
described in 3e psi rules. Note that this ability is not magical, it
can heal serious wounds and crippled limbs, but it does so by inducing
the subject to self-heal over time, or gradually change the limb. No
psion can instantaneously restore a broken limb, for ex, only
accelerate the healing.
Exohealing (M/VH, prereq Autohealing at Skill 10 or better): Ability
to use healing talent on other beings. Works best on members of ones
own species, penalties accrue when applying this ability to other
species, examples:
Another Homosentient -1 (can be eliminated by study and familiarity)
Primates such as great apes -2
Distant primates (monkeys, others) -3
Mammals -4
Tetrapodal vertebrates-5
Other vertebrates generally -6
Other Solarigen life forms -8 or worse
Familiarity and study can reduce any penalty by 1.
Metabolism Control (M/VH): As in standard 3e psi rules, save that at
skill 16 or higher it can also be used on _others_ at -3.
Life Extension (M/VH, prereq Autohealing 15, Metabolism Control 12):
As described in standard rules, save that at skill 16 it can be used
on other beings at -6.
Steal Energy (M/VH) (listed under Psychic Vampirism in standard
rules): As described in standard rules, save that at skill levels of
16+ it can be attempted on more than one subject at a time at -6.
Bioamplification (M/VH, prereq Metabolism Control at 10 or better):
This skill enables a psion to use psionic power to increase his/her
own _physical_ abilities. At least one round of TOTAL concentration
is needed to make the skill role, two rounds adds an additional +1 to
the roll. A successful skill roll enables a psion with this skill and
Power to add:
+1 to DX (and all DX-based skills are affected),
+2 to ST (ditto)
+1 to HT (ditto)
for every 2 levels of Psychobioetics power. The effect is temporary,
lasting Power rounds, or (Power * 2) rounds on a critical success.
Nothing happens on an ordinary failure, on a critical failure one
'trips oneself up' and DX, ST, and HT all suffer -1 for Power rounds.
At Power 10 or higher, additional gains to DX, ST, and HT level off,
but duration becomes (Power * 2) on all ordinary successes, and (Power
* 3) for a critical success, up to Power 20, which is the practical
ceiling of this skill/Power for unmodified humans. Power can go
higher yet, but this particular skill can't do much with it. Other
Psychobioetics skills exist, however.
Note that this means that a psion can gain up to +5 on DX and HT and
+10 on ST for short periods. This can be a very effective and useful
skill!
This skill is purely 'self only' it can not be used on others.
INFLICTION (M/VH, defaults to Exohealing at -3):
Infliction is the polar opposite of Healing, a skill uses
Psychobioetics to disrupt or interfere with the proper working of
another living creature's body. Where Healing is beneficial
Infliction is damaging...and since destruction is inherently easier
than creation (you're working with entropy instead of fighting it)
Infliction is both easier and in some ways more effective than
Healing. (Life's like that sometimes...)
For every level of Psychobioetic Power a psion possesses, the
Infliction skill can be used to to attack one of the attributes,
Fatigue points, or other qualities of another character or being.
When attacking attributes, on a success, each level of Power will
knock out one level of ST, DX, or HT, two levels on a critical
success. On a failure nothing happens, on a critical failure the
effect rebounds and effects the psion. (IQ can not be _directly_
attacked by Infliction, but damage done to the body by Infliction will
have the appropriate penalties on IQ, if any). Each attribute must be
attacked separately, the victim gets a chance to resist using Will,
including whatever appropriate mental defenses are in place.
Attributes can be reduced as low as the psion can manage, Infliction
_can_ kill.
Infliction can be used to attack Fatigue, on a success one Fatigue
point is wiped out per 2 levels of Power, the Fatigue can be recovered
as with any other Fatigue loss.
Alternatively, Infliction can be used to attack health (rather than
HT) more generally. In this case the victim gets a chance to resist
vs will/mental defenses, but the range of failure modes is
unpleasant.
Depending on how much success the psion has (the GM can work out
appropriate bonuses and penalties on a case by case basis, a lot of
factors can be involved), the Infliction skill can be used to do a
variety of things.
On a minor success the psion can wipe out the victim's bodily defenses
sufficiently to make him/her likely to catch a minor infection (a
cold, flu, etc). On a major success the victim can be given
convulsions, agonizing pain, extremen nausea, a heart attack, stroke,
temporary blindness or deafness, the range of possibilities is limited
mainly by the psion's Power and skill and the GM's imagination. On a
critical success the psion inflicts _permanent_ damage...
(The psion has only limited control over _exactly_ what happens. The
psion can choose to try for convulsions instead of blindness, for
example. OTOH, if the psion chooses to weaken the target's immune
system, what s/he catches depends on circumstances and what pathogens
are around.)
Whatever is inflicted can be resisted as normal against HT, the
details depend on the details (that sounds stupid but I think the
meaning is clear).
On a failure nothing happens, on a critical failure whatever the psion
was trying to do to the victim rebounds upon the psion, who must then
resist vs HT (or whatever is appropriate depending on the exact
situation).
A really skilled psion (Inflictions skill 15+) can try for really
creative effects, for example on a critical success at such skill
levels the psion has the option of inflicting the target with
something slow-acting but nasty, like cancer or Parkinson's or
osteoporosis or the like. (This particular trick is well suited to a
certain sort of villain, hopefully most PCs are not so vicious-
natured... )
A high skill in Infliction (15+) combined with a high skill in Life
Extension (15+) and a high Power (at least Power 15) can be combined
to produce a particularly nasty trick: inducing accelerated aging on
a victim, the victim effective ages five years for ever five levels of
Power, plus an additional five on a critical success.
Note that the damage done is physical, conventional medical/biological
damage. Thus a physician can work to counter it just as s/he could
conventionally-acquired damage. The doctor might be going crazy
trying to figure out what's _causing_ all this damage from no obvious
source, be s/he could treat it normally. Psionic healing will also
work normally.
Other applications of Psychobioetics exist, but this will do for a
basic primer.
Next up: Psychokinesis
Johnny1a
Addendum: The 'see aura' skill belongs under ESP in my world.
Otherwise it works as described in 3e rules.
Johnny1a
the psion to surround himself with a personal barrier of Psychokinetic
force, providing protection against both physical and energy-based
attacks. Power 2 provides 1 DR against most forms of attack, Power 4
gives DR 2, Power 6 DR 4, and so on, DR doubles with every two levels
of PK power, rounding down. DR can be doubled using Extra Effort for
a short time.
Skill level affects how the metashield interacts with the world.
Skill Levels:
1-3 Shield is strictly on-off, blocks _everything_ including air flow
and visible light, character only has the air inside the shield to
breathe and can neither see nor hear anything outside. Other sees
character as a humanoid black zone.
4-6 Psion can choose to enable air to pass while blocking liquid and
solids, or close off gas permeability, can choose whether to let light
pass or not.
7-8 Psion can choose to optimize shield against either energy-based
attacks or projectiles/blows, doubling DR against the chosen threat
and halving it against the other category.
9-10 Psion is able to 'snap' shield up in a single turn without
concentration.
11-12 Psion can expand shield to protect larger areas, but this cuts
DR to 1/3 for every doubling of hexes protected.
13-14 If psion also has any ESP Power, s/he can pick and choose which
gases and liquids and solids are blocked, i.e. allow oxygen in but
block poison gas or liquid toxins.
15-16 Shield can be tuned to permit visible light to pass while
blocking higher and lower frequencies.
17-18 Shield can be tuned to permit ordinary light to pass but reflect/
disrupt coherent light, or can be made totally reflective of light
(character appears to a humanoid-shaped moving mirror, lasers reflect
in accordance with angle of incidence)
19-20 Shield can be maintained indefinitely, even while asleep.
Note that all other PK powers work at -1 to Power and -2 to skill
through a metashield, unless the psion has a metashield skill at 16 or
better.
Also note that contact with orichalcum can be disruptive to a meta-
shield at skill levels below 10.
Johnny1a
However, the photokinesis skill from Electrokinesis goes here in my
system. One major difference, the mass limit of the PK Power goes
right on doubling as Power levels increase, there is no level-off at
Power 16. Thus, power 17 can 'barely move' 1000 lbs, Power 18 2000
lbs, and so on.
My version of PK _does_ have a range limit. For a character with PK,
the GM should roll 3d, this provides the psion's Psychokinetic range
at Power 1 in _yards_. At each level of higher Power, add that much
again. Range can be temporarily doubled using Extra Effort, at -2 to
all skills (in addition to the skill penalty for Extra Effort).
Certain technological aids can boost range as well, including a few
drugs.
Example: Allen is a psionic character with PK, the GM rolls 3d and
gets a 12. At Power 1 Allen has a 12 yard range for all his PK based
skills. At Power 2 he has a 24 yard range, at power 3 a 36 year
range, etc. At any level he can briefly double that range using Extra
Effort.
Most of the PK skills operate as with standard rules, but a few
special skills are added, such as 'meta-shield' as described in the
previous posting.
Johnny1a
Example of the metashield in action: Jill has Psychokinesis Power 9,
and the metashield skill at 18. A thug is trying to inflict bodily
harm on her, her shield 'snaps up' the moment she sees his blow
coming. She has no time to 'fine-tune' it, so it operates at the last
'setting' she tuned it to.
She has Power 9, which means her metashield has an effective DR of 8.
However, she lucked out, the metashield is already 'tuned' to protect
from kinetic threats, which makes it effectively DR 16 against the
thug's blow. His bare hand strikes the shield instead of her
face, and the thug hurts his hand as it strikes a barrier he can't
see.
(On the other hand, her shield's current 'tuning' means that a laser
beam would only be resisted as if DR 4.)
Given her high skill, she can easily maintain this shield for quite
some time, and she can allow air to pass freely meaning breathing is
no problem. Unless he has a weapon our thug has a little problem...
Johnny1a
Telepathy mostly works as described in GURPS 3e Psi rules. There are
a few special points.
1. All telepathic connections are two-way. If the subject has the
appropriate skills (unlikely but not impossible if the subject is not
himself a Telepath) he can use the connection to look back into the
mind of the psion. An untrained person who realizes a Telepath has
entered his mind with Telereceive can also try to 'look back' if he
knows it to be possible. Roll a contest of Wills, on a critical
success the untrained subject has the same access to the psion's mind
that the psion would have had to his own.
Telepathic skills _can_ be learned by non-Telepaths...but this would
be very very rare because the only way they could be _used_ would be
if a Telepath entered the non-Telepath's mind. Still, unlikely does
not equal impossible.
2. The Mind Shield skill can be learned by _anyone_, Telepath or not,
based on Will rather than a psi power. In fact, most Homosentients do
have a natural mind shield, skill defaulting to IQ-6 and a Power of
Will-4. Training can raise the power to equal Will and skill as high
as the individual wants to train up to.
3. The range table applies, but the GM can and should apply bonuses
and penalties to that based on conditions like surroudning crowds or
lack thereof, etc. The ranges are the average range for each power
level.
Johnny1a
> TELEPATHY (5 pts/level)
>
> Telepathy mostly works as described in GURPS 3e Psi rules. There are
> a few special points.
>
> 1. All telepathic connections are two-way. If the subject has the
> appropriate skills (unlikely but not impossible if the subject is not
> himself a Telepath) he can use the connection to look back into the
> mind of the psion. An untrained person who realizes a Telepath has
> entered his mind with Telereceive can also try to 'look back' if he
> knows it to be possible. Roll a contest of Wills, on a critical
> success the untrained subject has the same access to the psion's mind
> that the psion would have had to his own.
>
> Telepathic skills _can_ be learned by non-Telepaths...but this would
> be very very rare because the only way they could be _used_ would be
> if a Telepath entered the non-Telepath's mind. Still, unlikely does
> not equal impossible.
>
Example: Karl is a non-psi, and Jill, who has Telereceive skill 14,
tries to read his mind. Karl has IQ 14 with 2 levels of Strong Will,
giving his natural mind-shield an effective Power of 12. She
succeeds, gaining entry to his mind. Karl senses this, and he knows
that one can _try_ and gain control of such a mental connection. He
rolls his Will against Jill's, and he hits a critical success!
Now he has the same access to Jill's mind that she would have had to
his, i.e. he can read her surface thoughts. he has no Telepathic
skills, so he can't do much else with the success (but even what he
has is potentially useful).
Example 2: Evan is a non-psi and Jill, again, tries to read his mind.
However, Evan has an unusual background and knows many Telepathic
skills he can't normally use for anything, but he does know them. He
has IQ 11 and one level of Strong Will, but his shield is trained and
so he has a shield Power of 12, just as good as Karl's. Jill succeeds
in her Telereceive attempt, gaining access to Evan's mind, but Evan is
highly trained and immediately tries to 'grab control' of the link.
Being trained, he does not need a critical success, his Will merely
has to beat hers in a contest, and he succeeds!
Now the mental connection is under Evan's control, and he can in
effective use Jill's own Telepathy to use his skills on _her_. He
proceeds to apply the Sleep skill. Now Jill can try to resist, as if
she were the victim of a Telepathic attack, but she fails her roll,
and is out like a light.
Telepathy is useful, but it can be very dangerous to the user and
should be used cautiously.
Johnny1a
Rarest of the major psionic Powers, Teleportion works rather
differently in my world than in the GURPS standard.
AUTOTELEPORT-This works just about the way in does in the default.
This is the classic 'blink' teleport, that carries the psion, his/her
clothes and gear, and maybe a weapon from point A to point B.
In my world, autoteleportation works at lightspeed. That's close
enough to instantaneous for everyday purposes.
The difference is that it's much _harder_ to blink long distances in
my background world, because of quantum indeterminacy, the 'friction'
of spacetime, the difficulty in keeping track of the thousands of
factors involved (done subconsciously, but still takes processing
power), and the difficulty of dealing with differences in vector
motion.
For a range below 5 meters, it works pretty much the way it does in
the GRUPS default. Any 'blink' over a distance of a about five meters
is at -5 to skill for ANY psion, and automatically costs a minimum of
1 Fatigue point. If conditions are adverse, or the psion is tired,
etc, penalties are greater. That's for a _success_. A failed roll
doubles the Fatigue cost, and causes the psion to arrive disoriented
and out of position. A critical failure leaves ALL the psion's powers
'stunned' for 1D6 _hours_.
For a 'blink' over 10 meters, double Fatigue cost and skill penalties,
and ANY failure is counted as a critical failure. An actual critical
failure leaves ALL psi abilities out of action for 1D6 DAYS. At 15
meters, double Fatigue cost and skill penalties again, and continue
doubling them at every 5 meters. The 'stun time' is the GM's call,
but penalties should be high.
You can't 'blink' the substance orichalcum _at all_, it won't work.
Obviously, while autoteleportation is very useful in battle or to get
past locked doors, long-range autoteleportation is not very viable.
NOTE: Some special-case situations enabling longer-range
autoteleportation (and exoteleportation) do exist.
EXOTELEPORT-Like autoteleport, up to 5 meters range this works
normally. At higher ranges, similar penalties apply, save that if
the
mass is smaller, the strain is lower, and so the psion is less likely
to lose all access to his/her powers if things go wrong. The higher
the mass, the more the penalties start looking like those of modfied
Autoteleportation.
So...is Teleporation above Power 5 wasted points? No.
PSIGATE (M/VH, prereq autoteleport 12 and exoteleport 12)-In my
background, the same psionic power that enables spacetime to be
manipulated to allow 'blinking' can be used, at higher levels of
Power, to directly bend and fold spacetime to produce _gateways_.
These gateways take the form, to the eye, of spinning vortices of
brilliant, rainbow-colored light, through which a psion can step,
jump, fly, etc, to emerge from the matching psigate elsewhere.
This method of travel is _not_ limited by lightspeed, though psions
with sufficient Power to bridge interplanetary or interstellar
distances are going to be very, very, very, very, very, very rare.
Range matches the standard Telepathy Range Table, save that a minimum
of Power 5 is necessary to even _try_ to create a psi-gate.
To open a gateway, a psion must roll vs skill. A normal success
creates a psi-gate Power meters in diameter or less (at the psion's
discretion), which lasts for Power minutes. (The psion can close the
gate at any time.) It takes 5 seconds for the gateway to form and
stabilize, after which _anyone_ small enough to fit, or _anything_
(with a few special case exceptions) small enough to fit, can pass
through the gateway in either direction. Very long-range psigates
suffer high skill penalties, and Teleportation Power above Power 20
cost 15 pts/level, representing the immensely greater power needed to
deal with velocity and potential energy differences).
On a critical success, the gateway will remain open for 1D6 X Power
minutes, and range is increased by 1D6 X Power.
On a normal failure, nothing happens, the gateway doesn't manifest.
The psion can try again at the usual skill penalties, of course.
On a _critical_ failure, the gateway forms, but goes somewhere other
than the psion wanted. The GM can use his/her discretion as to where,
or roll again to determine how bad the news is. The old saying 'Out
of the frying pan and into the fire...' might be relevant here.
Travel by psi-gateway is incredibly effective and convenient, but not
altogether without associated risks. Another psion with Teleportation
Power of 5 or more can try to deliberately disrupt the gateway at any
time, forcing the originating psion to roll again vs skill to maintain
it. If the originating psion makes his/her skill roll, the gate
remains stable. If he/she fails, the new psion has disrupted it, and
it collapses.
On a critical failure of the defense roll, the attacking psion has
taken _control_ of the gateway, and can close it or hold it open at
will, regardless of the originating psion's intentions.
Some natural phenomena can also disrupt a psi-gate. A lightning
strike could probably do it, or a good-sized explosion nearby _might_
do so. Trying to carry unshielded orichalcum through a psi-gate is
unwise, since on any but a critical success roll, it will disrupt the
psi-gate _violently_, resulting in an explosion that will do 3D6
damage to everything in the immediate area. To transport orichalcum
by psi-gate safely requires special preparations.
A psion _could_ try to 'blink' through a psi-gate, or exoteleport
something _through_ the gate, since it brings distant points close
together in space. On a critical success, it works fine. On a
success, the psion 'bounces', reappearing where he/she started from.
On any failure, the psi-gate is fatally compromised, with the matching
explosion as if orichalcum had been passed through the 'gate'.
Telepathy _does_ work through a psi-gate, at -2 to skill, since the
gate brings distant points close together. The only range that counts
is the total distance between telepath and subject on either side of
the psi-gate. Psychokinesis does _not_ work, it tends to fatally
disrupt and detonate the gate if someone tries to use it _through_ the
gate. It's safe to use it near the gate, though.
Appropriate psionic technology can be combined with Teleportation.
For ex, a Transport Anchor (more later) can be used to stabilize and
_maintain_ a psi-gate created by a psion, creating a semi-permanent
connection. Other psi-tech concepts might also be applicable.
The requirements and penalties for familiarity when creating a
spacegate are about the same as the for long-range teleportation in
the GURPS default. Attempts to open a gate to somewhere totally
unfamilar almost never work right.
Note that gate-travel is a very 'noisy' psionic effect. Almost any
psion with any sensitivity at all will perceive it if they are close
by, ESPers can feel it for miles even at low Teleportation Power
levels.
Johnny1a
Power: Psychobioetics
Prerequisite skills: Healing, Metabolism Control, Life Extension all
at 15+
This is an ability that requires both high Power and high levels of
skill, it's very dangerous and also quite powerful in its way. It is
a self-only skill, Preservation can not be used on another subject
(though others can assist in its use on one's self).
Like Metabolism Control, Preservation enables the body to operate with
greatly reduced requirements of food, water, and air, in fact, it
permits the body to survive essentially indefinitely without any of
the above (within certain limits and with certain caveats).
In order to use Preservation under ideal conditions, the psion must
succeed in a roll vs Preservation skill + Power, at -10. If the roll
fails, nothing happens, and the psion can't try again for a week, on a
crit failure the psion must wait at least 30 days to try again.
If this roll succeeds, the psion slips into a catatonic state that is
far deeper than the trance-state of a user of Metabolism Control. In
fact, to most superficial observations a psion in a Preservation state
appears to be quite dead. No pulse, no motion, the heart stops
beating, respiration essentially ceases, hair and nail growth cease,
body temperature drops to environmental temperature, the body is
unresponsive to most stimuli.
However, the body is _not_ dead. Decay does not occur, and the
process is fully reversible. In a Preserved state, a psion for
practical purposes needs no food, no water, and no air, and is immune
to harm from any temperature from the freezing point of water up to
about 150 degrees Fahrenheit, and can remain in this state _almost_
indefinitely. The key word is _almost_.
If the psion is exposed to harsher conditions while in a Preserved
state, s/he rolls vs Power + Preservation skill again (or the GM does
as the case may be), with a penalty depending on the nature of the
conditions. If the roll suceeds the psion takes no damage from the
harsh conditions (within reason). On a failed roll there is lasting
damage of some sort appropriate to the situation, on a critical
failure the psion dies.
(The GM must apply common sense, if the psion is shoved into a pit of
magma, dropped off the top of the Empire State Building, or hacked to
pieces, obviously there's no need to even try a skill roll.)
Penalties to the roll:
Immersed in warm water long term -3
Immersed in ice cold water long term - 2
Temperatures up to 200 degrees F - 4
Prolonged temps below freezing - 2
Pressure up to 10 atmospheres - 1
Pressure up to 20 atmospheres - 4
Etc.
The psion won't awaken until conditions are appropriate to permit
survival, and whatever trigger conditions the psion set are met. A
psion can set a time, and will awaken within 10% of the total length
of the set time, unless conditions are unsuitable.
(For ex, even if the 'alarm clock' rings, the psion won't emerge from
the catatonic state if he's frozen solid in a block of ice. He'll
awaken if he's removed, though, and the time/conditions are met.)
For every 10 _years_ that the psion remains in the Preservation
trance, s/he must roll vs Power + Preservation skill, losing a point
of HT on failure. On a critical failure 2 pts of HT are lost. After
100 years, the rolls continue every ten years, but at -1, in the third
century at -2, and so on. When HT reaches 1, the psion rolls vs.
Preservation skill for a chance to awaken, at HT 0 the psion _dies_.
On any critical success on the roll, the psion actually regains a HT
point (in theory successive crit successes could bring HT back up to
the level s/he had at the start, but odds are bad...).
Note that this means that the higher the HT of a psion when s/he
enters the Preservation state, the better! Entering a Preservation
state with low HT can be very dangerous.
When a psion emerges from the Preservation state, s/he will have no
Fatigue points, and will be disoriented and confused for 2D6 hours, or
longer depending on circumstances. It's like to be days or weeks
before s/he is fully back to normal, even under good conditions. The
longer the trance, the harder it is to regain one's waking footing.
He or she will remember _nothing_ of the time in the Preserved state,
it's a state of absolute unconsciousness, even the subconscious is
shut down. Psionic powers will be unreliable for a while as well, all
Powers will be at Power 1 for several days (all the psychic energy
having been depleted keeping the character alive at the edge of
death), and then gradually return to normal.
A psion in a sudden extreme emergency can try to use Preservation as
well, but the roll is at -15 instead of -10.
Certain drugs and technological assistance can improve the odds of a
psion trying to use Preservation, and simple precautions can greatly
increase the chance of survival (common sense must be the guideline).
A Preserved character is almost invisible to Telepathy, since his/her
mind is shut down. ESP _can_ determine the difference between a
corpse and a Preserved character, as can a _detailed_ medical
examination at TL7+ (3e TLs).
(NOTE: The very nature of this skill involves a lot of variables, a
GM has to simply apply a lot of common sense to the details.)