CLAIRSENTIENCE

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Basic Technique

Refinement: This basic technique functions much like The Sight, in that it is not so much a new Technique per se, but is, as its name implies, a refinement of the basic Attunement awareness possessed by all Psions. It serves to tighten the focus of perception, making the power far more useful, especially for the farsensing Clears and other powerful Psions.

System: Roll Psi in an active use of Attunement, this power does not effect the normal passive uses of that power. The Psion has refined their Attunement to the degree that they can choose to scan actively a smaller radius than their normal (often enormous and impractical) radius of effect. Each success determines detection of Taint and/or familiar noetic auras normally and also allows the Clear to subtract a point of Psi for the purposes of range. The range bonus imparted by The Sight may be cancelled out with an act of will by anyone skilled in Refinement and need not be bought off in this manner.

Example: Marak has a 6 Psi, which would normally impart a 15 kilometer radius of Attunement, and with hir rating of 3 in Telesthesia increasing Sight range to 50,000 kilometers! But being able to sense the presence of Aberrants in 50,000 kilometers isn't particularly going to help the Psion tell roughly where in the devastated lunar base the creature is hiding, so s/he uses Refinement to try and 'tighten' the search. Scoring 3 successes on the Psi roll, Marak can not only completely forego the extra range conferred by The Sight, but can also reduce hir effective Psi up to 3 levels, to a range of 20 meters if s/he so chooses. Marak only chooses to subtract 2 levels from hir Psi of 6, sweeping a range of only 75 meters, roughly limiting hir search to any Aberrants inside the base proper and not any present all the way out to Lagrange 5…

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PSYCHOMETRY

None yet, although a few that involve 'combat precognition' might fit here, as I feel that this Mode would be the best in which to place powers that see into the future as well as the past.

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PSYCHONAVIGATION

· The Center Holds: With this oddly named Technique, the Psion extends his awareness to include all three dimensions. He still sees from his own vantage point, and this power cannot be used to see behind walls or through darkness, but the perceptions are enveloped around the Psion and he can see and hear events behind him as easily as if he were facing in that direction.

System: This Technique requires a Psi roll and the expenditure of a Psi point, lasting for Psi turns.

Each success on the activation roll confers a +1 to Awareness related rolls regarding the Psions immediate area as a holographic representation of the events around him fills his mind. A single success is enough to insure that anyone present gains one less bonus die for a flank or rear attack and with two successes, his awareness is complete enough to cancel out both bonus dice for a rear

attack. With the Technique active, it is very difficult to surprise the Clear, but the power doesn’t cut through obscuring gases or adverse lighting or physical obstructions, it only allows the Psions natural senses a greater field of play.

·· Spatial Sense: This Technique is more than merely a refinement of Orientation, it allows the Psion a spatial map in 3 dimensions of her exact positioning relative to all things within range. A Psion using this technique is all but immune to surprise and is aware of events in a 360 degree sphere centered on her own form. A Clear could use this technique in a darkened room to become aware of the positions of items around her to cross it without penalty or in her biofighter could sense the movements of enemy ships and debris around her in three dimensions.

System: Roll Psi and spend a point to activate the power for a number of turns equal to the Psions Psi rating (at the end of which the Psion may choose to spend another Psi to continue the effect or let it lapse and re-initiate it if she is hoping for a better roll). The Psion becomes aware of all items visible as if she could see in a 360 degree sphere to the limits of her normal sensory range (which may be pretty impressive if she is linked into a biofighter!). For every two successes (rounded down), she negates a single bonus die gained from flank and rear attacks by one and gains a bonus die of her own to any actions involving the three dimensional scene, including Piloting, Awareness, weapons fire and Dodge!

··· Sensory Lock: A Clear can use this variation on the Bloodhound technique to focus on one target for the moment, to the exclusion of all others. This increases accuracy and is useful in retaining view of a person who is trying to lose one in a crowd or a vehicle with stealth or sensor jamming capabilities.

System: The Clear must roll Psi and spend a point, each success confers upon the Psion a +1 Accuracy against the person or object 'locked in' as the designated target, +1 die per success to any sort of Awareness rolls required to perceive and / or recognize that target AND a +1 to the Difficulty of all Social rolls and Accuracy against ALL other targets! The Psion will seem distracted and obsessive to other people as the power directs her every bit of mental and psychic focus towards the target. This technique only has a range equal to the Psions Psi score x100 in meters and has a duration in minutes equal to her Psychonavigation rating before requiring another Psi expenditure. Note that the obsession and intense focus of this power should be roleplayed and the character should be required to make a Willpower roll to seriously think about any other issue or individual. The compulsion is such that if the target has not been reached by the powers end, the Psion must roll Willpower to avoid instinctively maintaining it for another (Mode rating in minutes) activation time at a new cost in Psi! If the target leaves the range of the Sensory Lock, the Psion instantly loses the lock and will have to reestablish it when the target is again within range. Either sight or a psi-print are required to establish a lock in the first place.

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TELESTHESIA

· Extension of Awareness: This technique allows the Clairsentient to extend his or her awareness and sense of self into any formatted bioapp. To an extent all formatted bioapps become extensions of the Psion users, but this power intensifies that linkage, making the item truly seem a part of the Clear for the duration of the powers effect. The Clear will feel the items functions as surely and as precisely as he can feel his heart beat and his lungs fill with air. In the case of a bioweapon, he will be intimately aware of any potential problems, of overheating or material stress, even feeling a dearth of physical ammunition or battery life as a form of hunger. In the case of a biofighter, the effect will be far more profound as she sees through the vehicles sensory modalities and can can control the variable geometry configuration of the wings as intimately and immediately as a child can feel the changes of air pressure and wind resistance and so alter his the angle of his hand dangling out the window of a moving automobile.

System: Spend a Psi point and roll Psi to 'link' oneself with any piece of Bioware touched, even if that item is already formatted to someone else. If used upon a formatted Bioapp, the effect is similar to as if it were Assimilated for that scene only, allowing the Clear to utilize Psi in the place of the relevant Attribute (usually Dexterity or Intelligence) in attempts to utilize, diagnose, repair, destroy or even locate the item! Unfortunately, during the scene, an attack upon the item that causes damage will pain and traumatize the Psion, imposing a +1 to the Difficulty of all actions while the item is so linked to the Psion (in other words, for the rest of the scene or until the item is somehow repaired) and the destruction of the item will actually cause an unsoakable lethal HT level of damage to the linked Psion for each level of Tolerance of the item. If this power is used upon an unformatted Bioapp, it simply allows the Clear to use it as if it were formatted for the duration, but causes no intimate connection or penalty. In either case, the power cannot be maintained if the item, for some reason, leaves the Attunement range of the Psion.

The abnormally intense linkage tends to create obsession with the item on the part of the Psion and she must roll Willpower to maintain enough presence of mind to actually loan it someone else or significantly risk or sacrifice the bioapp. This does not occur in the case of linking to an unformatted Bioapp, although temporary Tolerance Overload could well be worse…

·· Home Ground: This technique was designed by Hajj biofighter pilots as a variation on the powers of Remote Sensing and Sensory Projection usable in more immediate surroundings at tactical speeds.

System: The Clear must roll Psi and spend a point, but becomes connected to his surroundings on a primal level for the entire scene, gaining +1 die / success to add to any Awareness rolls as items native to the area are felt intuitively and items not present when the power was activated feel 'wrong' somehow. This power allows the Clear to ignore as many levels of Difficulty penalty from his surroundings as he scored successes (acting somewhat like Sense Mastery in this respect), even from within a biofighter or other vehicle, as the Psions intuitive sense of the local space is more than adequate to make up for malfunctioning or compromised mechanical sensor systems. Unlike Sensory Projection, this awareness extends a full 360 degrees and makes the character intimately at home in any surroundings and extends his awareness to all be at least peripherally aware of all items in his surroundings, although, unlike Omniscience, it does not reveal any insights regarding those items, only imparts a rough idea of their location. This awareness extends only to that physical scene and certain devastating changes to that area or changes in location (such as by Teleportation) can invalidate this power completely.

··· Infusion of Essence: This technique acts just as Extension of Awareness, but requires a much greater Psionic potential as it does not just knit together and strengthen the always present linkage between a Psion and his bioware, it actually creates such a linkage between the Clear and a piece of unliving 'soulless' hardtech!

System: Roll Psi and spend 2 points to establish the linkage with any touched bit of hardware up to the size of a spacecraft as above. It lasts for the scene and allows a pilot an intimate bond with his vehicle, a marksman with her weapon, a 'hacker' with his computer or a doctor with her intensive care tank, allowing the Psion to use Psi in place of the relevant Attribute (usually Dexterity or Intelligence) to utilize, understand, repair, destroy or even find the item in question. If the item is damaged during the scene, the linkage will cause pain to the Clear, imposing a +1 to all Difficulties until the power fades or the item is repaired (or leaves Attunement range, as this power lapses at that range). If the item in destroyed while the user is still linked to it, the Clear takes unsoakable Bashing damage equal to the items cost in Dots. (The damage is not lethal as with Extension of Awareness as the item linked to is unalive and the linkage is entirely created and sustained by the Psion.)

The unusually level of interconnection between man and machine tends to manifest as obsession with the item on the part of the Psion and he must roll Willpower to be able to actually loan the item to someone else or threaten or damage the device. Unlike an intense emotional and *reciprocal* bonding with a piece of bioware, bonding empathically with a piece of emotionally 'dead' hardtech makes the user distant from his own feelings for the duration, add a +1 to the difficulty of all Social rolls both for and against the user, as his emotional distance makes it difficult to read or influence the emotional states of others, or to be read or influenced in turn.

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