Reality Control Powers

This dangerous roster of powers are those which let their wielder manipulate various aspects of reality itself, whether it concerns just themselves or the environment around them. These powers can either manifest 'in character' (having an in-game explanation for how they stretch the rules) or 'out of character' (simply letting their possessor cheat or otherwise ignore the rules by fiat).

The availability of reality control powers in the game are entirely up to one's individual Judge, for they can be quite difficult to manage.

A

Ability Boost
Type: Reality Control Power
Duration: instantaneous effect
Cost: 1 point per rank
Related Powers: amplification, karma control, logos, metabolic focus, nimiety, power boost, reassignment.

Ability boost allows its possessor to temporarily augment - significantly - any one ability score of their choice. When activated, its wielder can choose either their Fighting, Agility, Strength, Endurance, Reason, Intuition, or Psyche, and enhance it to a value that is equal to this power in rank - or the value of the enhanced ability +1 CS, whichever is higher. An ability boost of any kind lasts only for 1d10 turns.

Once it wears off, ability boost may not be used again for an hour - at least, not without degrading its overall capability. For each additional use without a one hour 'cool down', ability boost loses -1 CS of its overall effectiveness. This is enough to neutralize its use upon abilities greater than its own rank, while gradually reducing its power in all other instances, if used too frequently.

One's Health or Karma sum should be temporarily recalculated to account for the character's new prowess; this can cause problems if he or she takes severe damage before the power wears off, as a negative Health total upon the power's termination affects a body per a Kill result.

Ability Boost may easily be limited by reducing the number of abilities it can temporarily enhance. Constraining it to either physical or mental ability scores is considered a weak limitation (+1 CS or a one point cost reduction), while allowing ability boost to enhance but one ability score is instead a strong limitation (+2 CS or a two point cost reduction). Fighting can count as either a physical or mental ability for this purpose.

Conversely, one may enhance ability boost by allowing it to bolster more than one ability score at once (enhancing the power by one step for each additional ability score so boosted), or with each doubling of duration (2d10 turns of boost would be a weak enhancement, and so on).

Antigravity
Type: Reality Control Power
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 1 point per rank
Related Powers: damage reduction, deflection, flight, gravity control, hostility screen, super flight, space control.

With gravity being defined as the attractive force that all matter exerts on other matter, antigravity is thus a repulsive force, working instead to push all matter away. In its basic form, antigravity can be used to apply this repulsive force to any objects its wielder desires, as long as they are within Near distance of their person. This force overcomes gravity and acts to separate these objects with power rank strength.

Antigravity can be applied in a field effect, covering everything within range, or simply made to work on discrete objects. This lends itself to a wide variety of uses, from violently pushing an attacker away from oneself to casting all loose objects in the area far into the sky! Moving targets can avoid this effect with a dodge maneuver, if specifically targeted, as this power requires an Agility ACTION to affect them.

In addition to the basic effects of this power, antigravity can be used to develop the following (and more) power stunts:

* Antigravity Well: instead of making the repulsive power of antigravity work between two or more objects, the wielder of this power can simply craft an antigravity well. This is one object that exerts antigravity on everything around it, thus acting as a repulsion field of power rank strength. Depending on relative masses between objects involved, the antigravity well may be caused to 'bounce' all over the area.

* Damage Reduction / Deflection: by projecting antigravitational waves, the character with this power can blunt both the accuracy and intensity of damage delivered through a physical medium. This applies to most physical attacks, save for perhaps Force damage, unless it is delivered by a material medium (such as a column of air). This stunt usually applies 1 CS of both forms of mitigation (unless bought at a higher level, that is).

* Flight: by making one's body emit antigravity until it overwhelms local gravity conditions, the character with this power can achieve flight! This effect works at the power rank -1 CS, as some energy is lost simply resisting the tug of the earth (or whatever surface is close by). A character with antigravity can steer by projecting antigravitational energy in the direction opposite their intended destination.

* Repulsor Beam: refining one's antigravity into a concussive pulse, the possessor of this ability can simulate the effects of the force blast power. This blast of repulsive energy inflicts Force damage on whatever it hits, and is also quite likely to inflict a Slam result as well. If the damage inflicted is higher than the weight intensity of the target, he or she must check against a Slam even if such a result was not rolled!

B

Buttress
Type: Reality Control Power
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 2 points per rank
Related Powers: amplification, nimiety, power amplification, psionic amplification, sorcerous amplification, theonic amplification.

Buttress is a power with which one can nurture the capabilities of others. While active, buttress creates a field of favorable probabilities around its possessor, one which extends out within Near distance of their person. This field can apply beneficial Column Shifts to rolls attempted by those they consider allies. These rolls can take the form of any ACTION, including Resources and Popularity checks!

However, this bolstering of probabilities comes with a cost. For each positive Column Shift the character with buttress grants their compatriots, they in turn suffer two negative Column Shifts applied to every action they attempt. This penalty is incurred whether one is dodging attacks, making an Endurance check against a Kill? result, or rolling the ACTION necessary to maintain this ability, which is required every turn.

It is important to note that one cannot benefit from another occurrence of the buttress power while wielding it themselves. The warping of probabilities that buttress utilizes to produce its unique effect is extremely complicated and delicate, and attempting to add a second (or more!) source of such manipulation ultimately causes overlapping buttress fields to cancel each other out.

Overall, buttress is an ability fraught with peril. On the one hand, buttress greatly strengthens the efforts of one's teammates, while on the other it makes its wielder particularly vulnerable to the efforts of their enemies. Those who can balance out the positives and negatives of buttress are often vital members of whatever group they happen to belong to, not to mention the cause(s) they champion the most!

C

Causality Control
Type: Reality Control Power
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 4 points per rank
Related Powers: grace, lethality, luck, override.

Causality control is the power to manipulate reality itself! The power works by giving its possessor the ability to simulate, at its own intensity, any other super-human skill that has the word 'control' in its name. Thus, the character with causality control is capable of anything ranging from fire control to mind control to time control, whenever they see fit - depending on their mastery of this power, that is.

When one first acquires this power, they can manifest any one of these control effects of their choice - but only one. For instance, let us assume that Big Bang Boris picked up this power after the Chernobyl incident back in the 1980s. Wishing the radiation around him would 'go away', and then watching it happen before his very eyes, Big Bang Boris got the notion that he had developed radiation control.

Once a character realizes that he or she has this ability, and not some 'lesser' control power, they can develop additional controls as power stunts - one for each control. Thanks to freak happenstance, Big Bang Boris got the idea in his head that he was more than just a radiation controller, and attempted to bend various other forms of energy to his will. And, since he was correct, he eventually developed a large array of new powers!

There is no limit to the amount of different and disparate control abilities one can manifest through causality control - it simply requires one develop the power to gain even more. Big Bang Boris, in time, managed to ultimately master twelve different control powers, allowing him to manipulate almost every aspect of his environment. Hence his code name: he thought himself capable of creating entire universes!

In a similar vein, when one first acquires causality control, he or she can only exert one form of control at a given point in time. Since the character only knows one such control to begin with, this isn't a big deal initially. However, they can expand their control over causality in a like fashion, developing the ability to maintain more than one variety simultaneously as a power stunt - one for each concurrent 'power' added.

But how many facets of causality can one manipulate at once, you wonder? This is determined as is the case for the maintenance of spells or psionics. Each control that the possessor of causality control wields against the universe counts as one 'maintained' power, and is ultimately constrained by the character's Reason (mem) score - which determines how many concurrent things one can concentrate on.

Looking at Big Bang Boris one more time, it was known that he could only control one aspect of the world around himself to begin with, and his opponents took advantage of this 'weakness' by overwhelming him with multiple attack forms at once. Tiring of this, Big Bang Boris worked hard to resolve this deficiency (such as it is) by first mastering the use of two simultaneous controls... and then finally three.

With an Excellent (20) ranked Reason (mem) score, that's about all he can hope to manage... unless he ever gets smarter!

Combining Powers
Type: Reality Control Power
Duration: permanent effect
Cost: varies
Related Powers: various, depending on the powers combined.

The process of combining powers is one in which a character permanently merges two or more of their super-human capabilities into a singular power. This is often done to create abilities which require more than one ascendant power in their execution. Common examples of such abilities include everything in the combination powers category, like plasma generation or regenerative armor.

Combining powers can also be used as the reverse of power stunts, tying seemingly disparate abilities together into a cohesive whole. The effect of this is that the combined powers cannot be used discretely; both component abilities in a combined power are an all or nothing affair. Depending on the powers so combined, this can serve as either an enhancement or a limitation.

In the simplest sense, combined powers have a cost, either as a number of powers or as a number of points per rank, that matches its component abilities - plus one point. If powers are combined more as a limitation, subtract that point instead. This is not set in stone, however; if a combined power approximates an extant ability (such as missile generation closely matching quills), the net cost can be reduced accordingly.

Combining powers can occur later on in a character's life, not just during character generation. This can be the result of the bizarre occurrences that are so common in comic books, ranging from inadvertent radiation exposure to someone 'punching time.' Such a combination may come with an additional ability (or abilities) which acts to enliven a character's power roster - or just might saddle a powerful ability with new limitations.

After a fashion.

No matter how they come about, combined powers all operate at a like intensity. During character generation, this is a simple matter, but if one's powers are combined after this point, their net intensity must be recalculated based on what it would cost to purchase the powers in a combined state during character generation. This balancing of power won't affect abilities which lack a rank proper (such as an invulnerability).

F

Future Control
Type: Reality Control Power
Duration: instantaneous effect
Cost: 2 points per rank
Related Powers: history control, luck, override, precognition.

The power of future control involves the fine manipulation of multiple probability fields to achieve a desired result. This is similar to, but more complicated than, the luck power, as that ability tends to only function on immediate concerns (within the space of a die roll). Future control, on the other hand, actually reaches through time to manipulate imminent events - all this to bind fate to one's will.

When reaching into the seething cauldron of probabilities that is the most likely future a timeline will follow, the wielder of future control only has a small window of opportunity to realign things. This window is a number of turns that is equal to the future control power's rank number. A Good (10) ranked future control, for example, would let someone tinker with events ten turns, or one minute, from now.

Generally, future control is limited spatially as well as temporally. In addition to the relatively short lead time it provides, future control can only be used on events its possessor can perceive. This usually requires he or she be within Near distance of the event to be, unless they can sense it through other means, such as clairvoyance, or perhaps closed circuit television cameras.

Manipulating a solitary action or the outcome of a singular event requires but a green power ACTION. This includes things which can be resolved with a simple die roll (such as a punch one is going to throw imminently). Single outcomes can also come in the form of something not quite expected, such as Likes to Bite suddenly breaking its leg or throwing a shoe on the last lap of the Kentucky Derby.

Future control is capable of much more complex alterations in imminent probability fields, however. A yellow power ACTION roll can be attempted to change the outcome of multiple related actions or events (such as causing a group of cars in a race to suddenly malfunction), or to momentarily change the mind or opinion of a single target (altering imminent Popularity ACTIONs, or perhaps a decision the target intends to make).

Similarly, a future controller can attempt incredibly detailed changes in an outcome to be. A ACTION roll of red magnitude is usually required when one is trying to alter the decisions or intentions of multiple individuals (such as a corporation's board of directors), altering a large array of probabilities, or causing extremely unlikely events to occur (everyone wins at the slots simultaneously).

It is important to note that some actions cannot be directly swayed by the forces that future control can bring to bear. They are simply too big, or too important in the grand scheme of things - even if such is not readily apparent. In this case, the event must be altered in smaller steps, using successive actions against smaller, related probabilities that add up to affect the larger eventuality to come.

G

Grace
Type: Reality Control Power
Duration: 1d10 turns + maintenance, if desired
Cost: 1 point per rank
Related Powers: causality control, initiative control, karma control, lethality, override.

Grace is the ultimate form of mercy, for it prevents its wielder from inflicting Kill? results. This is advantageous to characters who only possess lethal attacks, such as a broad sword or lighting bolts. Grace even applies when dishing out enough damage to reduce one's foe to zero (or less!) Health. Grace allows a body to cut loose, after a fashion, having no need to pull their punches because they literally cannot kill anyone.

Similarly, grace is a potent defense, as it works to negate Kill? results rolled against its wielder. How this works is that, while grace is active, its possessor may attempt an ACTION against the intensity of any assault that would otherwise achieve a Kill? result against them. Failure indicates that the Kill? must be resolved normally, but a successful ACTION shifts that Kill? result down to a yellow effect on the Universal Table.

The only variation on this basic behavior is when a character using grace faces off against the effects of an opponent wielding lethality. In that case, one must pass an ACTION roll with grace, opposed by either the intensity of the damage inflicted or lethality's power rank if it is to prevail, whichever of the two is higher.

Gravity Control
Type: Reality Control Power
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 1 point per rank
Related Powers: antigravity, density control / others, density control / self, space control, time control.

The power to control gravity allows its wielder to manipulate the attractive force that matter exerts on other matter. Such force is never generated by the gravity controller - he or she is simply manipulating that which is already present in their environment. The simplest application of this power is in regards to the gravitational attraction between the earth (or whatever planet one is on) and the many objects on its surface.

A gravity controller can manipulate this attraction with power rank effectiveness, either multiplying or dividing the effective weight of an object within his or her radius of effect (as is determined by the Near range table) by their power rank number. An Amazing (50) ranked gravity control, then, could effectively reduce the weight of a two hundred pound object to four pounds - or increase it to ten thousand pounds!

When attempting to move against an enhanced gravity field, a character must pass a Strength ACTION against their new weight intensity or be held, immobile, wherever it overcame them. In a pinch, a character can apply other ranks against the intensity of this heightened gravity, such as a movement power's, said character using that power as an active resistance to the gravitational forces arrayed against them.

On the other hand, characters wandering into a reduced gravity field gain several Strength-based benefits. Recalculate a character's leaping ability based on their new weight in a low gravity zone. Also, with objects experiencing a greatly reduced weight, characters can move things much easier; a two ton truck affected by that Amazing gravity control, above, would weigh a measly eighty pounds!

While quite useful 'as is', gravity control lends itself to a large variety of advanced effects. Each advanced use of gravity control can each be mastered as a power stunt, representing the character's increasingly intricate manipulation of this fundamental force of nature. A short list of common gravity control power stunts is included below, but is by no means exhaustive in nature:

* Acute Attraction: enhancing the attraction between two specific objects will cause them to move towards each other - though the lighter object of the two will typically shift more. If a building became attractive enough to a person, he or she could walk up its sides instead of climbing. Similarly, if used between an aircraft and a person, that individual could walk on any of its surfaces as if they were solid ground!

* Attractor Beam: by focusing his or her will on an object, a gravity controller can increase the attraction gravity holds between it and, say, their hand. In this fashion, they can crudely simulate telekinesis, forcing the object to leap into their palm! To prevent the effects of an attractor beam, if the object is held by another, the owner of the object must pass a Strength (mgt) ACTION against this power rank.

* Flight: by rendering oneself nigh-weightless and then increasing attractive forces between oneself and other matter in the area (even air), one can achieve flight, after a fashion. A character flying via gravity control can do so at their power rank -1 CS speed, maintaining such movement as long as they can actively concentrate on bending gravity in their favor.

* Gravity Well: by drastically increasing the gravitational forces an object projects, a gravity controller can make it a 'magnet' of sorts for all matter within range. Anything within Very Near distance of the gravity well will fall into it, which in and of itself doesn't cause damage. What does cause damage is collisions with objects already in a gravity well when one falls into it (treat as falling damage).

* Levitation: gravity control can be used to make objects levitate - either their own body or anything else. This is done by almost negating the weight of an object, and then increasing the attraction of any matter above it (even the air). An animate target can attempt to avoid this effect by dodging this use of the power; if the gravity controller misses, they just levitate air where the target was.

H

History Control
Type: Reality Control Power
Duration: instantaneous effect
Cost: 3 points per rank
Related Powers: future control, override, postcognition.

History control is the ability to reach into the past and meddle with events that have already occurred - without all the pesky time travel that is normally required to achieve the same effect. How it works is that, upon deciding to change a recent event, the character with history control creates a 'bubble' of probabilities, a field of such that extends between the present and the past event to be changed.

Within this bubble, reality itself is in flux - existing in multiple states concurrently. The course of events triggered by the outcome of an unchanged action exists alongside the outcome of the action after it is altered. A history controller may then view the eventualities caused by both outcomes, and choose which of the two he or she prefers. This means one can change the past, or not, depending on which present they like more.

Manipulating a solitary action or the outcome of a singular event requires but a green power ACTION. This includes things which were resolved with a simple die roll (such as a punch one threw - and missed). Single outcomes can also come in the form of something not quite expected, like altering a beef patty such that it was not properly refrigerated before someone cooked and ate it.

History control is capable of much more complex alterations in previous probability fields, however. A yellow power ACTION roll can be attempted to change the outcome of multiple related actions or events (such as meddling with last week's stock prices), or to actually change the mind or opinion of a single target (altering the results of failed Popularity ACTIONs, or perhaps a decision the target made recently).

Similarly, a history controller can attempt incredibly detailed changes in the past. A ACTION roll of red magnitude is usually required when one is trying to alter the decisions or intentions of multiple individuals (such as a crime syndicate's leaders), altering a large array of probabilities, or causing highly unlikely events to occur (more people vote for that milquetoast third party candidate).

Bear in mind that some past events are so pivotal that they may actively resist being changed. This may be the case with something that drastically altered the chain of events between itself and the present, such as some sort of cataclysm or especially a Presidential election. Sometimes these can be changed with multiple uses of the power - but may also be opposed by others with this exact same ability!

When a character reaches back into the past, intent on upturning the current probability field of the universe with one dictated by the changes he or she would like to make, they have a somewhat small window of opportunity to alter things. This temporal window consists of a number of days equal to the history control power rank number; for example, Remarkable (30) history control allows for a month of leeway, give or take.

Generally, history control is limited spatially as well as temporally. In addition to the relatively short period of temporal fluctuation it allows for, history control can only be used within a short distance of the event(s) that are to be altered. In other words, history control requires that its possessor be within Near distance of the past event or events to be tinkered with.

This may sound similar to how the future control power works - and it is, save for the direction through time it reaches. Both powers cause timeline deviations from the point of the inflicted alterations, but history control is trickier since that deviation occurs at a point before the person wielding the power actually utilizes it - at least in a causal sense.

Thus, each time the history controller uses this power, he or she will bud off an alternate timeline, wherein they know they changed something - but everyone else is (generally) unaware anything has been altered. This leaves behind the original timeline where the history controller didn't alter anything... possibly prompting others in the 'abandoned' timeline to wonder just what the character's super-power actually is.

This sounds like it is a recipe for a whole lot of paperwork, but in grand scheme of things it isn't. Technically speaking, each moment in time sees an infinite amount of alternate timelines branching off of every other timeline based on the results of an infinite amount of potential outcomes. So, one could simply look at history control as 'steering' their life in a more desirable direction.

More involved changes might cause a bit of irritation to one's Judge, though, who has to jump through hoops now and then to account for changes to his or her carefully laid plots that occur thanks to sudden ripples in the timeline. Who then, just to share in the fun, might introduce any number of ways to annoy the history controller - possibly including another history controller as a nemesis!

I

Initiative Control
Type: Reality Control Power
Duration: instantaneous effect
Cost: 2 points per rank
Related Powers: grace, lethality, luck, time control.

Normally, initiative is determined by having each character roll one d10, and adding whatever initiative modifier they have to the result. However, using the initiative control ability, its wielder can interrupt the nature of this essential game mechanic, slightly twisting time into knots to benefit themselves or others - or alternately, to the detriment of their enemies!

On a green power ACTION roll, an initiative controller can change the placement of one character's order in the sequence of events. This can be themselves or anyone else, and said placement may be anywhere they desire (first, last, etc.). A yellow ACTION roll allows the initiative controller to reconfigure the initiative of everyone present, friend and foe alike, causing actions to take place where they dictate in a given turn.

A red initiative control power ACTION allows a more serious temporal change. With this level of success, the initiative controller may add an action to one's rotation in a given turn, or alternately take one of their actions away! The idea is that this will balance out eventually, of course, the person with the added action slowing down later to compensate, or the person whose action was stolen getting two sometime later.

That's the idea, anyway. Successive red ACTION rolls could potentially remove a given character's ability to act for several turns, which may be enough to take them out of a fight before they can even do anything in the first place. Or set someone up for a bruising when all of those 'missing' actions come home to roost all at once.

Initiative control may be resisted by anyone with protection against warping attacks, time control, or just this ability in particular.

K

Karma Control
Type: Reality Control Power
Duration: instantaneous effect
Cost: 2 points per rank
Related Powers: ability boost, amplification, attenuation, grace, keeper, lethality, power amplification, power attenuation, power boost.

The strange and insidious ability of Karma control allows its wielder to manipulate the Karma totals of either themselves or others. Though it manipulates a character's Karma sums, the wielder of Karma control ironically cannot spend Karma to help actions with it succeed. This power may be countered with resistance to warping attacks (any uses of the power) or resistance to vampirism (the third use of the power).

The basic use of Karma control involves adding a 'buffer' of Karma to oneself or another, equal in size to its power rank number. This simply requires a green power ACTION (any success will do), and lasts for as long as it takes for the affected individual to use the bonus Karma points. One must spend Karma gained in this fashion before the power will work on them again, and gained points may not be used for advancement.

Alternately, a Karma controller can perform the opposite action on others, reducing the amount of Karma they have on hand. This requires a yellow power ACTION roll, and if successful will lower one's Karma total by this power's rank number for 1d100 turns. Unlike the previous application of this ability, Karma control can 'stack' Karma reductions on a target repeatedly - since it inflicts but a temporary loss.

Finally, Karma control can be wielded to permanently transfer Karma from one character to another. This requires a red power ACTION, and when successful, can move up to this power's rank number in Karma points from one character to another (less is possible, if desired). Points gained in this manner may be spent any way the recipient desires, and points lost due to this use of the power must be regained normally.

It is important to note that taking Karma from another (by, say, transferring it to oneself) may well be considered a villainous act. If one is already 'evil', this may not be a big deal, but a would-be hero probably needs a good justification to use this facet of Karma control. Wielding it against one's foes may be good enough, but siphoning Karma from random people at the mall should be a lot trickier to justify.

Keeper
Type: Reality Control Power
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 1 point per rank
Related Powers: karma control.

When invoking keeper, its possessor has the ability to forge an immediate, yet transient Karma pool with one or more individuals. These people must be willing to engage in such a bond, for it inextricably ties their fates together while active. Once established, this new pool allows its members to donate any amount of Karma to it that they choose, with a bonus amount of such equal to the power rank of keeper.

But what's the difference between the use of keeper and a standard Karma pool, you ask? For one thing, this pool can be formed and ended at the whims of keeper's wielder, without the usual temporal limitations on such. Furthermore, this pool can be forged in addition to whatever Karma pool the character(s) involved are already in, making this the only way a character can belong to two Karma pools at the same time.

This allows others ready access to one's own fount of Karma, greatly assisting them in the completion of their endeavors, whatever they may be. The only danger inherent to wielding keeper is the potential for Karma loss due to the actions of others, particularly if keeper's wielder and other participants in the pool it generates operate under different moralities.

L

Learned Invulnerability
Type: Reality Control Power
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 4 points per rank
Related Powers: environmental adaptation, environmental independence, situational adaptation, various resistances and invulnerabilities (regular or greater).

Characters with learned invulnerability have the power to gain resistance to attack forms which damage them - after being exposed to them. Upon suffering damage of any type, the possessor of this power may attempt a power ACTION roll against its intensity. If this ACTION roll is successful, the character will develop resistance to that form of damage equal to that which was received - with an upper limit of this power's rank.

For example, a hero who has just acquired Excellent (20) ranked learned resistance is attacked by a group of thugs. After being struck with fists for Typical (6) Blunt Attack damage, the hero can acquire like resistance to Blunt Attack damage if he can pass an ACTION roll against the amount of damage inflicted. From then on, he'll retain that resistance indefinitely - unless he opts to replace it with a different one.

This power can replace lower ranked resistances with higher intensity protection, but this involves suffering the full force of such an attack. By voluntarily lowering one's learned invulnerability, the character with this power can let their body adapt to the damage form anew. If exposed to damage higher than one's power rank, the wielder of this power can always attempt to learn resistance to it with a red ACTION roll.

That hero with Excellent (20) ranked learned invulnerability might want additional resistance to Blunt Attack damage. Climbing to the roof of an apartment building, he leaps off to land on the concrete surface below! By suffering the full damage caused by this fall, the hero can attempt another ACTION against the intensity of damage suffered, the success of which will grant him newer, higher rank resistance to Blunt Attack damage.

If he lives.

Finally, learned invulnerability can provide a large number of resistances to its possessor, though it is not necessarily proof against everything. One may maintain a roster of learned resistances that is equal to its power rank number. If a character with learned invulnerability encounters a new attack form and is at their resistance cap, they can acquire a new resistance only by dropping a previously mastered resistance.

Looking back on our example hero, let us assume he's stricken down by a psi bolt. Not wanting to repeat that particular experience, he tries very hard and manages to learn a resistance to that power, at his power rank. However, this causes him to lose one of his older resistances, and thinking he can always jump off another building at a later date, he lets his Blunt Attack protection lapse - until he can recover it later, that is.

Lethality
Type: Reality Control Power
Duration: 1d10 turns + maintenance, if desired
Cost: 2 points per rank
Related Powers: causality control, grace, initiative control, karma control, override.

While under the effect of lethality, a character's attacks are much deadlier. Any assault by them which inflicts damage but isn't inherently lethal will see its normal red result on the Universal Table replaced with a 'Kill?' result, instead. This prompts the target to attempt an Endurance ACTION roll on the Kill? column, to see whether or not they have been dealt a fatal blow, which will occur on a white or green result.

On the other hand, if attempting a deadly attack while lethality is active, any successful assault will instead prompt an Endurance ACTION roll against either the intensity of lethality or the damage its wielder inflicted, whichever of the two is higher. Failing this ACTION will automatically cause the victim to begin losing Endurance ranks immediately - and may very well cause their demise.

The benefit of lethality is a much greater frequency in the permanent disposal of one's enemies, though this can come at a cost. The law often frowns upon one so readily ending their foes, whether or not it may seem justified. And then there's the problem with Karma, particularly if 'four color' campaign rules are in effect. But if neither of these conditions are a worry, lethality can be a powerful tool for a character!

Logos
Type: Reality Control Power
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 1 point per rank
Related Powers: ability boost, luck, nimiety, power boost, transfixture, unyielding will

Logos is a powerful mindset, one attained via a persistent, droning chant. This powerful chant focuses one's will such that it may alter both the character and the very universe around them, aligning them so that events resolve in a manner that favors the chanter. Either when activating logos or maintaining the ability, its possessor must pass a power ACTION roll each turn, though the difficulty of such depends on its influence.

While active, the power of logos compels the world to walk in lockstep with one's desires, adding a +1 CS bonus to any ACTION roll they attempt, save for those which keep it functioning. Each ACTION it bolsters, however, inflicts a -1 CS penalty on efforts to uphold logos, this increased difficulty representing mounting resistance to the character's meddling in the proper course of events by reality itself.

If the character with logos simply ceases the chant to maintain it before failing an ACTION to do so, they suffer no harm, and benefit from the general increase in the odds of succeeding in whatever it was they were attempting to do. If they failed an ACTION to keep logos running, however, the character suffers a causal backlash, which comes in the form of like CS penalties applied to their subsequent actions.

In other words, for each ACTION that logos enhanced before it failed, the Judge may 'bank' a -1 CS penalty to any future ACTION its wielder attempts. They may apply these Column Shifts at any point they choose in that session, either all at once or spread out as they see fit. Such is the danger of excessively warping reality, but the potential reward is often more than worth the catastrophic risk involved.

Luck
Type: Reality Control Power
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 3 points per rank
Related Powers: future control, initiative control, logos.

Similar to the very basis of magic itself, luck is an altering of probabilities to achieve a desired effect. In game terms, this is managed by actually controlling how thrown dice are read. The normal order of 'tens die' and 'ones die' is discarded, being replaced by the luck power based on the effect one desires. The die with the highest number is read first (for good luck), or the die with the lowest number is read first (for bad luck).

The character possessing luck may manipulate a die roll at will, whether their own or anyone else's. This may seem incredibly powerful, and it is, but there's always a danger in meddling with causality. Every time an altered die roll has a zero (0) in it, the Judge should take note, and roll a d10 of their own, in secret. In that many turns, the character whose luck was altered will experience a reversal.

What this means is, if a character was cursed with bad luck, and made a percentile roll with a zero in it, they'll experience good luck in a number of turns equal to the Judge's secret roll. On the other hand, if the wielder of luck was giving themselves good fortune, they'll experience bad luck in a like manner. This is a side effect of space-time righting itself in response to the luck manipulating character's actions.

Of course, there's another catch to luck. Incredibly potent, luck always comes with at least one strong limitation. Such can include (but isn't limited to) being able to only cause good or bad luck (not both), the power affecting everyone in the current area (whether good or bad), being unable to affect the luck of inanimate objects at all, or even gaining no Karma during encounters when the luck ability is in play.

This limitation does not increase the power (or discount the cost) of luck.

The rank for luck is used for few things, and ACTION rolls for such are rarely invoked. The rank number for luck does indicate the maximum amount of times in a given day one may manipulate probabilities in their favor. It also shows how well the lucky character can manipulate the fortunes of individuals with resistance to warping attacks - or perhaps others with the luck ability as well.

N

Nimiety
Type: Reality Control Power
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 2 points per rank
Related Powers: ability boost, attenuation, buttress, logos, power attenuation, power boost, psionic attenuation, sorcerous attenuation, theonic attenuation.

Nimiety is the ability to draw potential from one's allies, and to use said potential for one's own benefit. This 'potential' consists of Column Shift bonuses that apply to every ACTION roll the character with nimiety attempts. For every +1 CS worth of bonus the wielder of nimiety is to receive from his or her fellows, however, a -2 CS penalty will apply to those who have been chosen to donate their potential to fuel it.

When activated, the vast array of divergent probabilities that nimiety creates is centered upon its wielder, which adjusts causality within its area of effect, as is described on the Middle range table. This allows one to either draw from their friends from quite a ways away, to travel a considerable distance after doing so up close, or to engage in some middle ground between these two extremes.

But what if someone doesn't want to donate their potential to the wielder of nimety, you ask? This can be a pertinent point, especially if said wielder is attempting to draw forth numerous Column Shift bonuses, thus placing a body in potentially lethal danger. One can either stray out of the power's area of effect to avoid it, or if they are lucky, make use of someone or something with access to resistance to warping attacks.

O

Override
Type: Reality Control Power
Duration: instantaneous effect
Cost: 3 points per rank
Related Powers: future control, grace, history control, lethality, luck.

Override is a variant form of history control. The possessor of this ability can use override to overrule the results of the Judge's die rolls. The power can be used once per game session for each rank the character has in it. For example, wielding override at Feeble (2) rank would let someone change the Judge's dice once per game, while using it at Unearthly (100) would instead give them ten overrides.

When such a change is made, the general result is that while it originally looked like the die roll held sway, the reality of the situation is that things actually happened as the overrider preferred. Perhaps the side kick looked like he'd been killed by a burst of automatic gunfire at first, but as it turned out he merely received several 'clean' wounds, and will ultimately pull through. That kind of thing.

Such changes are not automatic, and the difficulty of making such an override depends on the nature of the intended change. To shift a Judge's roll by one color result (say, from green to white), a green ACTION is required. Altering it by two color results (perhaps from red to green) takes a yellow power ACTION roll, and switching the Judge's dice by three color results (white to red, or vice versa) necessitates a red override ACTION.

P

Planar Control
Type: Reality Control Power
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 3 points per rank
Related Powers: dimensional transit, space control, teleportation, time control, time travel.

This strange and dangerous ability allows its wielder to manipulate several properties of the local space-time. Technically speaking, planar control works by temporarily altering one or more of the area's seven-dimensional coordinates, thus causing it to overlap with the realm which normally possesses those characteristics. This causes the traits of the two distinct, joined locations to mix and match.

Planar control can be used in one of six main fashions. By altering one of the standard three dimensions of an area, a planar controller can momentarily shift it to anywhere else, really. A change such as this involves, say, shifting a part of Nome, Alaska's latitude and longitude until it overlaps with Caracas, Venezuela. Each city will experience a meteorological change (Nome will heat up, whilst Caracas will cool down).

This ability can be wielded to change an area's temporal coordinates, instead. An example of this would be shifting modern day Gettysburg, Pennsylvania back to July 2nd, 1863. While the core geography would remain the same, you'd have a lot of panicked locals trying to figure out where all these Civil War reenactors came from - and plenty of Confederate soldiers being hit by inexplicable horseless carriages.

Moving up into yet higher dimensions, planar control can manipulate a space's fifth-dimensional coordinates. This allows one to move an area until it overlaps with the equivalent area on a variant earth. If matched with a world very close to our own this may not be readily apparent, but doing so with an earth whose dinosaurs were never rendered extinct in a cosmic calamity might cause people to see a plethora of weirdness.

Stepping further out of one's experience, characters with planar control can also change the sixth-dimensional coordinates of their area, making a transient link with any other universe sharing the same timeline. An instance of this sort of manipulation includes shifting a portion of the Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota until it overlaps with Asgard - and watching the hilarity (and stab wounds) quickly ensue.

Planar control can alter seventh-dimensional coordinates, though such super-spaces are usually coincident with the rest of space-time anyway. This coincidence can be amplified, however, such as making one's area mesh better with the astral plane to reveal the presence of ectoplasmic matter and entities. This may allow one to interact with ghosts and astral forms directly, but is otherwise harmless.

Combining one's space with the mindscape of another's nightmare, on the other hand, can be downright devastating. A dreamspace unleashed upon the real world can cause literally anything to happen, depending on the mind generating the nightmare in the first place. Strange physics, monstrous creatures, and even interruptions in causality might be inflicted on an area merged with someone's subconscious!

A sixth use for planar control involves stabilizing an area of space-time, instead of destabilizing it. This can be used to seal portals in an area that lead to other spaces or times, pitting the rank of planar control against that which made them to begin with (or with a yellow ACTION for naturally occurring rifts). Planar control can even be used to lock out teleportation, dimensional transit, and time travel powers!

The distance with which one can cause transient alterations in space-time is similar to that of related powers. Standard dimensions can be shifted with Far range (per teleportation), allowing someone with a Monstrous (75) rank to be able to reach any point on earth (which has a 7926.28-mile diameter). Shifting to different time periods works like time travel (that Monstrous planar control could move 421,875 years along the timeline).

Higher dimensions are more ambiguous. Reaching a specific variant timeline or another universe entirely isn't dependent on distance, but whether or not the wielder of planar control knows how to get there. These require a power stunt for each (as with dimensional transit), but if the character with this ability has dimensional transit as well, they can apply stunts to reach dimensions with it to planar control (and vice versa).

The size of an area so blurred by planar control is determined on the Near range table. That Monstrous (75) ranked planar control power indicated earlier could temporarily merge two areas within a mile radius of its wielder - that's a lot of real estate! A blended space remains for up to a number of turns equal to the power rank number - unless the planar controller specifically concentrates on maintaining the effect.

But why do this, you ask? Blurring two locations together can be a great way to travel between them directly. By connecting two areas in space-time, the wielder of planar control can walk through the affected area and, upon reaching the end of its circumference, lean into the new location in preference to the old. By doing so, the power will terminate - but its wielder will arrive in the new location no worse for the wear.

The problem is that other people, if they realize what is going on, can perform the same trick - and anyone carrying an item out of a blurred space that doesn't belong can introduce anachronisms into their realm. A Civil War combatant from before might steal a cell phone and a Beretta 9mm pistol from modern-day civilians and wander out of planar control's radius, thus causing serious divergences in the time stream.

That's why it pays for a planar controller to operate this ability for short periods of time; if people are menaced by dinosaurs for only a few seconds, the odds of anyone being eaten are greatly diminished. On the other hand, planar control can be a great way to cause mass panic, and makes for a supreme diversion if one is trying to cover their tracks when engaging in illegal activities.

Power Boost
Type: Reality Control Power
Duration: 1d10 turns
Cost: 1 point per rank
Related Powers: ability boost, karma control, logos, metabolic focus, nimiety, power amplification, psionic amplification, reassignment, sorcerous amplification, theonic amplification.

Power boost allows a character to enhance the rank of their super-human powers for a short duration. When triggered, it raises the rank of one power either up to the power boost rank or to its normal rank +1 CS, whichever is higher. For example, a Feeble (2) ranked power affected by an Incredible (40) ranked power boost would be enhanced to Incredible (40) rank, while a Shift X ranked power would be enhanced to Shift Y.

It doesn't matter the origins of the power to be enhanced, whether it is a physical mutation, magical spell, or psionic talent. Power boost can even affect its wielder's technological items! However, power boost cannot affect one's ability scores. It may only affect one power at a time, and the enhanced rank it provides will only last for 1d10 turns - which may or may not be long enough to achieve what the power booster had in mind.

Once it wears off, power boost may not again be used for an hour - at least, not without degrading its overall capability. For each additional use without a one hour 'cool down', power boost loses -1 CS of its overall effectiveness. This is enough to neutralize its use upon abilities greater than its own rank, while gradually reducing its power in other instances (that Shift X power, above, would gain no further benefit).

R

Reassignment
Type: Reality Control Power
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 2 points per rank
Related Powers: ability boost, berserker, evolution control, power boost, roulette, shape change.

The character with reassignment is of fluid capability, for he or she may reassign the values of their various ability scores and powers (if any) as they see fit. This often coincides with a character who has multiple forms, their many ranks shifting from one form to another, but not always. It need not be tied to any real explanation but can often be used with other powers to more readily justify its presence on a body.

How reassignment works is that the possessor of this power may shift prowess from one of their ability or power ranks to another on a CS per CS basis. For example, a body with Poor (4) Strength and Amazing (50) Reason likes to swap between the two to surprise people who underestimate his physicality. Every -1 CS he applies to his Reason can be added as a +1 CS to his Strength (or any other ability score, really).

This can get a bit more complicated when applying column shifts to one's super-powers. This is because some are more potent than others, and require a bit more 'fuel' to enhance via reassignment. If a power costs more than one 'point' per rank during character generation, one must reduce another ability by that many CS to give it but one CS increase (so yes, boosting ultimate power is very costly).

Mind you, the reverse is also true. Say a character has Excellent (20) planar control, which is quite expensive to acquire during character generation (fifteen points). Each negative CS the character with reassignment applies to planar control allows her +3 CS to apply elsewhere, either in one ability score or power or in three separate ones. Such costly powers serve as a great 'bank' for reassignment to draw upon.

Shuffling ranks around is a full action, but reassignment's wielder may shift as many as they like at one time. Health and Karma should be retallied as one's ability scores change. Ability scores may not drop below Feeble (2) in rank, and ability score and power ranks may not be increased higher than that of reassignment's rank itself. Furthermore, reassignment cannot be used to change its own rank.

Of course, one can add limits to reassignment as they see fit, to enhance that rank. Limiting oneself to rearranging either ability scores or powers (not both) is considered a weak limitation. Constraining reassignment to altering only physical (Fighting, Agility, Strength, and Endurance) or mental (Fighting, Reason, Intuition, and Psyche) ability scores counts as a strong limitation.

A further, very strong constraint of reassignment involves the character only being able to reassign their ability scores and power ranks between two distinct, fixed forms, sort of like a voluntary alter ego. Finally, restraining the power such that it can only swap the ranks of two specific ability scores and/or power ranks can be counted as an extreme limitation.

Roulette
Type: Reality Control Power
Duration: instantaneous effect
Cost: 2 points per rank
Related Powers: reassignment, variable power.

Unpredictability personified, roulette allows its wielder to manifest a new super-human capability every time it is invoked. The difficulty is that roulette's wielder has no control over what power they will develop when doing so. In other words, the likelihood of a character playing roulette acquiring an ability precisely applicable to their current situation is slim - but predicting how they will perform in battle is similarly unlikely.

How roulette works is that each time it is used, the player should randomly determine a new power, using the character generation tables. The Textbook Character Treatise works best for this, though a player can utilize any they feel fits their character - as long as they stick to the same one over time. Alternately, the Judge can whip up a large batch of such abilities in advance, and tick through them as roulette is activated.

Abilities gained via roulette will operate at its power rank, or at a minimum value determined by the power in question - whichever of the two is higher. They will generally 'stick' with the wielder of roulette for 1d10 turns, though this can be bolstered to 1d10 minutes as a weak enhancement, 1d10 hours as a strong enhancement, 1d10 days as a very strong enhancement, or 1d10 weeks as an extreme enhancement.

On the other hand, if a character manifests a roulette power that they dislike, they need only invoke the power again to change it out for another!

S

Space Control
Type: Reality Control Power
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 1 point per rank
Related Powers: anchor, antigravity, deflection, gravity control, planar control, super flight, teleportation, time control.

The dangerous ability of space control allows its possessor to manipulate the geometry of the universe around its possessor! The very shape of space-time is fluid, dynamically subject to curvature by the mass within it, and by invoking this ability a space controller can artificially warp these curves to achieve a variety of useful effects. The simplest of such effects is to manipulate the speed of an object.

By compressing the space in front of an object to simulate a gravity well, a space controller can induce acceleration in it, whether it is currently moving or not, to a maximum speed equal to this power rank (or the object's own speed +1 CS, if that would be higher). This speed can be maintained by 'rolling' that steep curve in front of the object in question, such that it perpetually 'falls' into this artificial dent in the universe.

Similarly, expanding the space around an object can cause relative deceleration. This does not induce an actual decrease in velocity so much as it seemingly creates more real estate the moving object must cross. A flying object overwhelmed by this effect may appear to be motionless in the air, while it is in fact flying at full throttle within a localized, ever-expanding bubble of space!

Alternately, by warping the spatial curves between objects into strange geometries, a space controller can direct their relative motion as well. This can steer one object away from another, vector them onto a collision course, or anything else the space controller desires - without any apparent change of direction from the perspectives of the objects so moved (aside from the obvious visual cues that something is suddenly amiss).

To overcome the machinations of a space controller, individuals or objects in the affected area must supply enough opposing force to resist the curvatures in the universe he or she has induced. This basically involves passing an ACTION roll against the intensity of their space control power; if this ACTION roll fails, the movements of individuals within Near distance of the space controller are wholly subject to their whims.

T

Thaumaturgical Vampirism
Type: Reality Control Power
Duration: instantaneous effect
Cost: 2 points per rank
Related Powers: biological vampirism, decontamination, energy vampirism, magic sense, psionic vampirism, spectral vampirism, super vampirism, vampirism.

Thaumaturgical vampirism allows its wielder to feed upon the magic contained within various items, phenomenon, or persons in the environment, mainly to recover lost Health. As do other forms of this ability, thaumaturgical vampirism requires contact with its would-be victim. Upon touching the target, a thaumaturgical vampire may drain amount of magic from it equal to this power's rank - assuming a target has that much within.

The target of thaumaturgical vampirism can be one of three separate sources of magic. The first is spells encountered in the environment. A power ACTION roll made against the intensity of such magic allows a thaumaturgical vampire to feast upon the magic before him or her, draining its intensity by this power's rank number with each use. Such spells may either be in transit to their target or already in place.

The second target of thaumaturgical vampirism comes in the form of magical items - inanimate objects which contain magic, either of a temporary or permanent nature. Temporary magical items can be drained as can ordinary spells, per the above, but a permanent object can be drained only if the thaumaturgical vampire can pass an ACT roll against the magic used to create that item in the first place.

The third source of magic for a thaumaturgical vampire is, of course, magical beings. For the purposes of this power, a magical being is defined as any entity which possess magical abilities, whether natural or trained. On contact with a thaumaturgical vampire, such a being must pass a Psyche (will) ACTION roll, against the intensity of this power, to avoid being drained of their magical capabilities.

Each turn it is used, thaumaturgical vampirism will drain the mystic powers and/or magical spells a hapless target possesses, assuming the target cannot shrug the thaumaturgical vampire off; a subsequent resistance ACTION roll is allowed upon each new turn. This draining can affect all of a target's magical abilities equally, or can instead work against declared target abilities, as the thaumaturgical vampire desires.

If a resistance ACTION is successful at any point during the feeding process, the target will immediately repulse the thaumaturgical vampire, gaining immunity from further assaults with this power from this thaumaturgical vampire (though not from other characters with this ability or any other vampiric powers the assailant may possess). Upon managing this, the target should note this resistance in the event of future assaults.

If a thaumaturgical vampire is at full Health when they drain their power rank in magic, they receive a +1 CS to their Strength, Endurance, Psyche, and all power ranks save for this one (additional drains do not enhance them further). This boost lasts for 1d100 turns, after which point the character with thaumaturgical vampirism will return to normal. Gaining another, like boost requires another feeding.

The danger in using this ability against the living is twofold. First off, there's the risk of contagion. Draining someone of their magic completely is a lethal attack. If the victim of such an attack fails their Kill check, they begin to lose Endurance ranks until either first aid is administered or they die. Soon afterwards, they will rise again as an undead creature, a thaumaturgical vampire that requires magic to survive.

Secondly, if a thaumaturgical vampire kills with this ability (accidentally or intentionally), they must pass a Psyche (will) ACTION against the intensity of this power. If this ACTION fails, the thaumaturgical vampire becomes addicted to the magic of the living, and requires it to function. While addicted, the character with thaumaturgical vampirism suffers a loss of power each day they do not feed upon large amounts of magic.

This loss comes in the form of a -1 CS to their Strength, Endurance, and Psyche scores, as well as all their power ranks (save for this one). To avoid this loss, the addicted thaumaturgical vampire must drain an amount of bodily magic equal to their thaumaturgical vampirism rank each day, and if at a penalty, a like amount to recover each -1 CS lost. The only way to shake this addiction is to go cold turkey.

And that's not easy.

Withdrawal from the magical powers of the living causes the CS penalties to mount, until the character's indicated ability scores and power ranks reach Shift 0. This prompts an Endurance ACTION, per a Kill result. If this ACTION fails, the character immediately dies, and will eventually rise as a thaumaturgical vampire themselves. If it succeeds, they may attempt a Psyche (will) ACTION to overcome their addiction.

If this Psyche ACTION succeeds, the character is 'cured', and may begin to recover lost ability and power ranks at a rate of +1 CS per day. If the Psyche ACTION fails, however, the character must wait another day, and repeat the Endurance ACTION to see if they live long enough to attempt another Psyche ACTION to beat the urge. This continues until the character either dies or gets clean.

If a character with thaumaturgical vampirism has ever been addicted to the magical energies of others, using the ability against others again may cause a relapse - even if they've physically recovered from the ordeal. Every time the character uses thaumaturgical vampirism on the living afterwards, they must pass a Psyche (will) ACTION, the failure of which indicates an immediate relapse into magic addiction.

If they pass this ACTION they'll be fine - at least, until next time!

Naturally, an undead creature dependent on the magical power of others to live cannot shake this requirement. This process only applies to still-living wielders of thaumaturgical vampirism, and not its many victims.

Time Control
Type: Reality Control Power
Duration: maintenance
Cost: 3 points per rank
Related Powers: catalysis, gravity control, initiative control, planar control, space control, temporal static, time travel.

The potent ability of time control allows its possessor to alter the flow of time itself! In practice, the time controller can manipulate time such that it can be accelerated or decelerated by a multiple equal to its power rank number. For example, a character with Amazing (50) time control could slow down time to 1/50th of its standard rate of passage, or instead speed it up to 50 times its normal 'velocity'.

The power only works within Very Near distance of its wielder, but within that range time is his or her plaything. When a character is temporally accelerated in comparison to others in their vicinity, they benefit from the effective simulation of super speed. In other words, they can perform actions in a fraction of the amount of time normally necessary, and receive one extra attack for each rank of time control.

Conversely, a temporally decelerated character performs actions much slower than usual. The time required to complete tasks is multiplied by time control's power rank - and one's attacks are spread out over a number of turns equal to the amount that someone similarly accelerated would normally receive. Individuals so slowed are affected by poison, disease, and SD damage at a fraction of the normal rate.

Limiting oneself to either speeding up or slowing down time (not both) is considered a strong limitation. Any other abilities one wishes to use controlling time must be gained as a separate power stunt. Such stunts can include the simulation of super running (by simply running at a normal speed while enclosed in a time bubble), time travel, portals (that move through time), or even planar control itself!

The effects of time control may be avoided with resistance to warping attacks - or just resistance to time control itself.

Return to the Transnormal Treatise!