BIOKINESIS
Basic
Technique
Self-Mastery:
This most rudimentary of Biokinetic Techniques allows the Psion an
System:
For the self-diagnostic functions or the healing boost, roll Psi. Number of successes indicates what sort of
information will become available in the former case. “I feel the poison numbing my nerves and cells in my brain are
dying off in alarming numbers, it must be a neurotoxin!” In the latter case, each success allows the
Biokinetic to heal one of his current wound
levels at the rate for the wound level one less on the chart on p
253.
Thus, a
Norça who had suffered 4 Lethal Wounds in the last fight would normally take a
month to heal just so much (with bed rest but no access to 2120 medical aid) to
reach Injured! But after activating
this power and getting two successes, her Wounded HT level will heal in only a
week and her Injured HT level in a mere 3 days! She could not re-utilize this ability to affect the additional
wounds, but she has still turned a 5 week and 4 day ordeal into a two-week
siesta! (In the case of a single Lethal
wound it will heal in 12 hours, and in the case of a single Bashing wound, it
will be gone by scenes end!) This
effect is cumulative with that of good hospital care, and even allows a
Biokinetic who is unable to get the food and / or bed rest required for the
normal rate of healing on p 253 to use those charts anyway.
This
effect has no bearing on the possible use of Vitakinetic healing Techniques as
these two Aptitudes do not work particularly well together. An Iatrotic will gain no benefit from trying
to heal a Biokinetic using this talent as the effects will have to be carefully
controlled on both sides to keep from undoing each other! (No game effect, this is not a defense
against Vitakinesis.)
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ADAPTATION
·
Exclusion: With this rudimentary level
of proficiency, the Biokinetic can physically modify her form in such a way as
to optimize it towards any one basic function that the human form is not
especially suited for (note that many tasks require a diverse assortment of different
activities and that this Technique is of limited use in such cases). Physical changes in structure may include webbing
between fingers and toes (for optimal swimming) at the cost of ability to move
smoothly on land or handle objects, greatly enhanced night vision at the cost
of total inability to see in ‘normal’ illumination and heightened
susceptibility to blinding/dazzling attacks, etc. Note that this technique doesn’t merely allow the Psion to
perform acts normally outside of human range, but also to adapt to engage in
typical human functions at better than normal performance, such as in the case
of a Psion adapting himself to be able to run more swiftly (at a cost in upper
body strength and arm function) or aim more efficiently (at a cost in
endurance, flexibility and even
close-range
visual acuity).
System: The Psion rolls Psi and spends a point,
gaining +1 die / 2 success rolled to perform a specific narrowly defined
task. However, the changes are gross
and unsubtle, penalizing most other actions by one die / 2 successes! The effect lasts only Psi turns at the
lowest level. At Adaptation 3 the
duration is increased to Psi minutes and at Adaptation 5, the effects duration
is measured in hours! Note that this
technique may require adjudication from time to time as some adaptations may
confer benefits or eliminate penalties not limited to simple dice rolls, such
as running or swimming speed (in which cases the addition might be to the
initial Dexterity rating of the character to determine basic speed as well as
to the Dexterity + Athletics rolls required for pursuit).
··
Multiplicity of function: This
technique clearly derives from Exclusivity, above, but allows the Psion to only
to adapt fully to a specific environment without sacrificing his current
advantages, not simply to enhance performance in a standard situation.
System: Roll Psi and spend a point. The effect reduces one level of penalty or Difficulty
at one success, 2 at 3 successes and any at 5 successes to any rolls involving
the specific environment adapted to.
Thus, adapting to an aquatic environment might create changes to the
eyes and other senses to eliminate the Perception penalties that would be
imposed upon an unmodified human, changes to the fatty tissues to protect
against the chilling depths and improve streamlining, which, with the addition of
webs on the hands and feet would eliminate penalties imposed from the chill and
in moving through the water itself.
Less visible changes would protect the diver from the crushing pressure,
nitrogen narcosis and similar effects.
The Psion would not gain the ability to breathe water from this
technique, but his body would otherwise be perfectly suited for an aquatic
existence with a good roll. This effect
lasts 1 minute per permanent Psi at this level and increases to Psi hours at Adaptation
4.
···
True Adaptation: This potent technique
allows the Psion to create certain changes within his body that render him all
but immune to one form of attack.
System: Roll Psi and spend a point. For the next Psi turns (Psi minutes at Adaptation
5), the Psion gains a +1 Soak / success rolled vs one specific form of
attack. The attack form adapted to
could be hand to hand bashing attacks, laser weapons, sonics, lasers / electricity,
bullets / flechettes, toxins or even large slashing / impaling attacks. Each requires certain adjustments to the characters
physique and they are not particularly useful against other attack forms on the
list.
....
·····
Immutable Form: At this level of
training, the Biokinetic is able to harden and innure her body to all forces,
if only for a few moments and at great cost.
System: Roll Psi and spend 3 Psi and 1
Willpower. The number of successes rolled
is the number of turns that the Psions body will become practically
indestructible to conventional harm.
During those few turns, she can add her Psi rating to her Stamina for
all Bashing Soaks and Resistance rolls, as well gaining a Stamina Soak (NOT
plus Psi!) vs Lethal forms of attack!
She can still be toppled by certain heavy firearms or vehicular weaponry
certainly, but during this time she may well shrug off most small calibre
firearms.
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PSYCHOMORPHING
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TRANSMOGRIFY
·
Bioshock: This power simply allows the
Biokinetic to reconfigure his body to contain many of the same tissues as that
of an electic eel or skate. These cells
do not suddenly appear charged, but his expenditure of Psi creates electricity
within them, charging them for a single massive jolt, or any number of smaller
ones.
System: Roll Psi and spend a point. For every success the character can inflict
up to 2 Bashing HT levels of electrical damage over the next Psi turns, but
never more than his permanent Psi rating in one jolt. He can divide the damage otherwise as he chooses, but never less
than one die per jolt, and only in the case of Heightened Reflexes can he
discharge electricity more than once in a turn.
Touch
is required, this power does not arc to strike a distant target like lightning,
although it can be released underwater, in which case it will reduce by 1 die
in effect / yard (like a grenade) and affect all within its radius save the
Psion. The effect will automatically
lose one die in fresh water. If metal
is used to conduct it, the effect is the same, -1 die / yard of distance separating
the Psion and the target in the case of an ‘area effect,’ although the damage
is only -1 die total if the Psion conducts a bioelectric shock through a metal
weapon or other item in such a way that it can only affect a single
target. Throughout the duration the
Psion remains immune to his own shocks (save on a Botch), but gains no
resistance to electrical shocks from any other source.
··
Chemosynthesis: With this technique a
Norça learns to use her body as a walking pharmacological laboratory, producing
toxins, corrosives, scents, drugs or similar substances on command.
System: Roll Psi and spend a point. Each success intensifies the compound that the
Psion secretes (from mouth, sweat glands, a cut, anywhere where fluid can be
expelled from the body). The list of potential
substances that the Psion can extrude is practically endless and during the
actual synthesis, she is immune to that particular dose, even if she is
spitting forth a potent paralytic neurotoxin that works by skin contact. If, a turn later, her target happens to fall
against her, she also could be affected by her own venom, so this power is best
used cautiously! Generally, the forms of
poison or drug that she can synthesize must be something that she has studied
extensively and even tried on herself.
She is therefore unlike to be able to produce doses of Teratogone or
Sarin, for example (although some of the more experienced Norça are said to be
all but immune to toxins and could ‘sample’ such delights).
For
game purposes, for every success on the Psi roll, the Psion can emit any drug
or poison capable of conferring -1 die to a Attribute or Abilities or a + 1
Difficulty / 2 successes. Enhancing
drugs require 2 successes / +1 die conferred and toxins and corrosives inflict
up to 1 Bashing HT level / success or 1 Lethal HT level / 2 successes. Toxins that blind or paralyze their victims
are generally more immediately effective for the Psion (and she is far more
likely to survive sampling them in the first place!), than lethal hemotoxic, eurotoxic
or necrotic ones. Most drugs and toxins
have pre-set durations, and this is not changed by their origination in this technique.
···
Flexion: With this Technique a
Biokinetic can endure frightful amounts of harm with little apparent
effect. His skin and tissues and organs
paradoxically soften and bend beneath any strike, and yet do not break or
rupture, retaining a superhuman cohesive strength in their contortions. This power is thought to be related both to
Molding and Gross Manipulation as it causes similar and seemingly contradictory
changes in the tissues of the Psion.
System: Roll Psi and spend 1 point. For minutes equal to the number of successes
rolled, the Psion treats Lethal injuries as Bashing, gaining a Stamina
Soak. Lethal damage taken from bullets,
blades or similar deadly blows (NOT fire, laser or similar energies!) during
the powers duration only manifest as bruising, they do not become Lethal damage
again at powers end, and so are healed much faster than would otherwise be
expected. For the purposes of Bashing
damage, the Psion halves (round down) any Bashing harm from blows (not
electricity, heat or similar forces) before even rolling Stamina to Soak. If the Psion takes enough seven Bashing HT
levels, whether from a source that is actual Bashing, or would normally be
counted as Lethal harm, any excess damage becomes Lethal, as normal.
····
Something from Nothing: This
whimsically named Technique allows the Biokinetic to summon extra mass from the
very air. His own Psi reserves turn
into reserves of tissue and flesh, adding layers of redundancy to his body for
a time.
System: Roll Psi and for each success you may choose
to spend a single Psi point to create 1 HT level of extra tissue that will
insinuate itself into your own for minutes equal to your Mode rating. Any damage taken during this time will come
off of the temporarily added mass first, allowing a bulging Norça to seemingly
‘slough’ off wounds and stand revealed as an undamaged, and much slenderer,
man. For every 2 Psi points worth of
mass created (round down), the Biokinetic loses 1 Dot of Appearance temporarily
as he becomes rather bulky and misshappen, although the tissues generated
neither detract from Dexterity, nor add to Strength or Stamina. In a welcome twist, any extra HT levels not
lost to misadventure return to the Psions noetic potential as unspend Psi
points at durations end, save a minimum cost of one to exercise the power. Thus, if Benjamin scored three successes, he
could choose to spend 3 Psi to create 3 extra HT levels of tissue. In the course of the next 4 minutes he is
only struck once for 1 Lethal level of damage, which is subtracted from his three
new HT levels. At durations end, the
extra mass dissolves into light and oily residue and since he still had two
extra HT levels of mass, he manages to reclaim 1 Psi point of the three he expended
to create the extra mass.
·····
Form of Mist: This Technique is a dire secret, known only to the Pai and one of
his closest advisors, for it allows the masterful Biokinetic to separate the
very cells of his body and become a thing of gas, eerily like the form of the
alien Doyen!
System: Roll Psi and spend 2 Psi and 1 Willpower to
transform into a gaseous sphere for as many minutes as you scored successes
(although it only costs 1 Psi to maintain the power for an additional duration
of sux minutes). In this form, the Psion
has 360- degree awareness and cannot be struck from the rear or flank, nor
surprised by any person visible at any quarter. The Psion can float no faster than 7 meters per turn, this form
is not built for speed. Lacking the
focused Telekinetic powers of a true Doyen, the Psion has no effective Strength
score for the duration, although his Dexterity and Stamina appear
unaffected. All mundane physical attacks
score only half damage (round down) whether Bashing or Lethal. Finally, and most importantly, the Psions
body transforms into a noetically conducive medium, far more suited to the use
of Psionic abilities than his natural state.
While not nearly so potent or intimate as a true Doyen, the Biokinetic
will still find that he has access to twice his normal Psi pool (taking any Psi
expended over his normal total as Lethal HT levels when he rematerializes!) and
if he were somehow to be able to maintain this effect for a half-hour, he would
discover that he regained expended Psi every half-hour instead of every
hour! Sadly, powers of Transmogrification
are useless in this state, requiring the Psion to make use of his Adaptive or Psychomorphic
talents instead.