Today we continue our delve into assigning abilities to powers.
Last time, we built out Body Mastery, Projection, and Perception powers. Today,
we will finish up with Dream Mastery, Fate Mastery, Telepathy, and Soul
Mastery.
If you’re new to this series or just want a refresher, check out
the Mystic Powers Index.
Today, we will continue using GURPS Powers, GURPS Power-Ups 2 – Perks, and GURPS Psionic Powers. Other books and series are mentioned, but not necessary to this discussion.
Dream Mastery
Where Projection is just about visiting other planes of
existence, Dream Mastery focuses on altered mental states, visiting other entities
through their dreams, and shaping the Dreamlands directly. This allows the user
to do everything from creating and controlling the dreams of sleeping entities
to outright attacks or communication.
This power probably is the least useful to dungeon delvers, but
for completeness, I’ll flesh it out here. Who knows? Maybe it will end up more
powerful and interesting than I expect!
Attack Abilities
Dream Mastery attacks typically involve fatigue attacks with
Missed Sleep. Afflictions are more broad. They should be able to inflict
sleep-related traits via Advantage, Disadvantage, Negated Advantage, and
Negated Disadvantage. They should also be able to put people to sleep via
Sleep, Unconsciousness, and Coma, put people in a hypnogogic state via
Paralysis, or cause daydreams via Hallucination.
On top of these direct
attacks, Dream Mastery also includes the ability to Create and Control dreams
directly – these are broad categories.
Defensive Abilities
Defensive abilities generally don’t include Damage Resistance,
since it really doesn’t fit the power’s focus. It does include a number of
other defenses, however: Doesn’t Sleep makes the user immune to sleep spells
and the like, Mind Shield (Limited, Dream Attacks Only, -40%) defends against
psychic sleep attacks, and Fearlessness or Unfazeable protect against fear
attacks.
Movement Abilities
Jumper (Spirit) with Limited Access, Dreamlands (-20%) certainly
fits and will often carry Projection, as well. Similarly, Snatcher with
Creation and Only in the Dreamlands (-20%) is also appropriate for being able
to create objects out of dreamstuff. Otherwise, movement abilities don’t really
fit.
Mental Abilities
I feel like the bulk of this power’s abilities should be mental.
Communication offers up Channeling while sleeping and Telesend with Only on
Sleeping Targets (-20%). Influence abilities are diverse but focused only on
those already asleep: Animal Empathy, Charisma, Empathy, Mind Control with
Conditioning Only or Suggestion for Inception-style action, and Terror for nightmares.
All of these carry the Accessibility, Only on Sleeping Targets (-20%). Information
abilities are similarly broad while only working on those whose minds have
wandered to the Dreamlands: Mind Reading, Mind Probe, and Oracle. The latter
requires that the mystic sleeps rather than the target sleeps. Sensorial
abilities can only add new supernatural senses: Detect Dreamers or Dreams, and
Clairsentience with World Spanning, Dreamlands Only (+0%).
Transformative Abilities
Mystics generally cannot change their forms or substance through
this power.
Power Perks
Beginning with Power-Ups 2 – Perks, we have
the following: Autotrance and Rule of 15. Autotrance on its own doesn’t really
scream power, but it would be fitting
for a dreamwalker to be able to induce a trance in others, too. This might make
it a worthy perk, so let’s rename it Dream Trance. The mystic makes all rolls
and can induce the trance in himself or another whom he must touch. Rule of 15
is relatively mundane, but it is useful.
Next, Psionic Powers offers up the following: Ping (p. 63),
Projection Clock (p. 29), and Visions (Aspected Dream) (p. 42). Projection
Clock usually applies to projecting in general, but here it applies to sleeping
or dreaming. We’ll call it Alarm Clock. We will restrict Ping to sleeping
people. Finally, Visions (Aspected Dream) already appears as a power perk for
Perception, so I’m wary of including it here, even if it is fitting. Let’s see
if we can’t avoid it; if not, we’ll use Dream Visions as it appears in
Perception.
Combining all of these, I’m still one perk shy of six, and that
includes the one I don’t really want to duplicate. I have an idea for a
perk-level Pitiable that results in you being the last one to get targeted in
your sleep and anyone who does try to harm you will hesitate – which might let
your friends intervene. I like this idea, since it makes you that little bit
safer while camping – not a bad thing at all. I’ll call it Sleeping Beauty.
This gives us Alarm Clock, Dream Trance, Dream Visions, Ping,
Rule of 15, Sleeping Beauty. If I come up with any ideas for another perk, I’ll
substitute it for Dream Visions.
Dream Mastery Abilities
Traits marked with an asterisk (*) also have Accessibility, Only
on sleeping targets, -20%.
Animal Empathy*; Channeling, with Accessibility, Only While
Sleeping (-20%); Charisma*; Clairsentience, with World-Spanning, Dreamlands
Only (+0); Detect for dreams, sleeping people, etc.; Doesn’t Sleep;
Fearlessness; Jumper (Spirit), with Limited Access, Dreamlands (-20%); Less
Sleep; Mind Control, with Conditioning Only or Suggestion; Mind Probe*; Mind
Reading*; Mind Shield (Limited, Dream Attacks Only, -40%); Oracle; Snatcher,
with Creation and Accessibility, Only in the Dreamlands (-20%); Telesend*; Terror*;
and Unfazeable.
Attacks are primarily built on Affliction with any of Coma,
Disadvantage (Delusions, Flashbacks, Phantom Voices, Nightmare, etc.),
Hallucinating (for daydreams or altered mental states), Paralysis (for sleep
paralysis), Sleep, or Unconsciousness. Fatigue Attacks with Missed Sleep are
equally appropriate, however. All should have Malediction.
Power Perks: Alarm
Clock; Dream Trance; Dream Visions; Ping; Rule of 15; and Sleeping Beauty.
Notes
This power blurs into Telepathy a bit, but in a limited way. I’m
not sure if I’m okay with that or not, but those aspects do seem fitting.
Metaphysically, this power is very closely related to Telepathy and often leads
to that power. I like that despite being a sleep-oriented power, it still
provides some useful offensive capabilities and defensive benefits, and it has
flavor. I don’t know that most players will be clamoring to build a Dream-based
mystic, but anyone who does should produce a very interesting PC.
Fate Mastery
This is the power to shape destiny by exerting your will on the
world through Ananta. This causes subtle changes in the world – a distracting
breeze here, a fortuitous twig snap there – that subtly stack the odds in your
favor. This lets you bless and curse people, cheat at cards, find lost change,
get in a lucky parry, etc.
Fate Mastery makes for a powerful supplement to just about any
role. Fighters hit more and get hit less; thieves fall or trip traps less;
agents have better luck dealing with other people; and wizards are better able
to cast spells and avoid unwanted consequences. Basically, those with this
power tend to more defined by their
core activity is rather than being defined by the power itself. Sorry Domino fans!
Attack Abilities
Afflictions that bless or curse others definitely fit. These
should have one of Advantage, Disadvantage, Negated Advantage, or Negated
Disadvantage. These should only affect Cursed, Destiny, Luck, Serendipity,
Super Luck, or Unluckiness. Note that the GM still decides what actually
happens. For a player to do so would require Cosmic (+300%). Fate afflictions
must also have No Signature, and one of Malediction, Melee Attack, or
Sense-Based.
Defensive Abilities
Defensive abilities tend to represent lucky breaks defending
(Enhanced Defenses), fortuitous attention in the face of surprise attacks
(Combat Reflexes), and the power’s own resilience (Protected Power). Some
applications of Luck – especially with Defensive – can fit here, but I’m
putting Luck and related traits under Mental Abilities, in general.
Movement Abilities
One possible movement-related ability might be Terrain
Adaptation, with Active. This would represent lucky footing or other breaks
that reduce the hampering nature of many terrains. Other than this, movement
abilities don’t really fit a fate-oriented power. Of course, Luck, Serendipity,
et. al. can help speed travel, but those are ultimately mental abilities.
Mental Abilities
Mental abilities include the ability to shape the fate of yourself
and those around you. for the most part, these are Gizmo (lucky I packed
that!), Luck with Wishing, Serendipity with Wishing, Super Luck with Alter
Reality and Wishing, Visualization with Blessing or Cursing, and Wild Talent.
It’s worth noting that Serendipity, Super Luck, and Wild Talent can have any
number of levels, so we should consider a reasonable cap. I think half your
Power Talent level feels about right for Serendipity and Wild Talent. Super
Luck may be as low as one level ever, but possibly 1 level per three levels in
your Power Talent.
It also makes sense for this power to be able to detect
alterations to reality or fate. This could include anything from blessed or
cursed items, to reality-warping powers, to wishes. Naturally, this would be
based on Detect. And the ability to accurately guess a good decision seems
fitting as well, so let’s include Intuition, too.
Transformative Abilities
Finally, fate doesn’t really call for restorative or
transformative abilities. So this will be left blank, too.
Power Perks
Beginning with Power-Ups 2 – Perks, we have
the following: Doodad and Sartorial Integrity. As a quirk-level Gizmo, Doodad
definitely fits this power, even if it isn’t particularly flashy or amazing.
Similarly, Sartorial Integrity means your clothing somehow never gets dirty or
torn in combat and your hair never gets mussed – call it luck. While this is flashier
for sure, it really doesn’t provide much mechanical benefit. For that reason
alone, I’m not including it here. I’d rather not mislead players into taking
something that likely won’t be a good buy in the long term.
Next, Psionic Powers offers up the following: Good Neighbor (p.
44), Karma Bank (p. 44), Loaded Dice (p. 44), Moneyclip Magnet (p. 44), and Shopper’s
Blessing (p. 44). Good Neighbor applies to hirelings and vendors you frequent
regularly. Karma Bank seems like it’d be a fun perk in play, but I’m a little
worried about having one more thing to track. This can be foisted on the
player, though, so it’ll be his pet – he took it, now he gets to care for it.
Loaded Dice and Shopper’s Blessing both seem just fine as is.
Moneyclip Magnet concerns me only because it suggests a way for a
PC to not need to dive down holes full of monsters. In more traditional fantasy
games, this might work, but for our purposes, it needs some work. Perhaps, if
we change it to produce an average of $150 spread over up to 7 daily rolls – if
the PC chooses to work all seven days – this could work. This brings it more in
line with Scoring Extra Cash (GURPSDungeon Fantasy 2 – Dungeons, p. 4), but we will need to
incorporate some dice rolling to maintain the feel of this section. Let’s make
it work thus: Each day you make use of Money Clip Magnet, you find 3d x $2 that
day in change, trinkets, etc. This averages to $147 per week, which on the face
of it, is less than other means of Scoring
Extra Cash, but note that you cannot buy up this roll the way you can with
skills.
This leaves us with our
six perks: Doodad; Good Neighbor; Karma Bank; Loaded Dice; Moneyclip Magnet;
and Shopper’s Blessing. As always, I’m open to expanding this number, but I’d
like to keep the number of power perks relatively close among powers.
Fate Mastery Abiltiies
Abilities marked with an asterisk (*) are open-ended. The GM
should set a limit for each, but reasonable caps are Oddsmaker / 2.
Combat Reflexes; Detect, for blessed or cursed items,
reality-warping, wishes, etc.; Enhanced Defenses; Gizmo; Intuition; Luck, with
Wishing; Protected Power; Serendipity*, with Wishing; Super Luck*, with Alter
Reality and Wishing; Terrain Adaptation, with Active; Visualization, with
Blessing or Cursing; and Wild Talent*.
Afflictions that bless or curse others can also fit. These have
one of Advantage, Disadvantage, Negated Advantage, or Negated Disadvantage and
only affect Cursed, Destiny, Luck, Serendipity, Super Luck, or Unluckiness.
Additionally, these must also have No Signature and one of Malediction, Melee
Attack, or Sense-Based. While the player is free to state what he would like to
see happen, the GM ultimately decides the outcome. Abilities that allow the
player to decide carry an additional Cosmic, +300%.
Power Perks: Doodad;
Good Neighbor; Karma Bank; Loaded Dice; Moneyclip Magnet; and Shopper’s
Blessing.
Notes
As one might expect, Fate Mastery is a very heavy on mental
abilities and pretty open-ended in terms of actual capability. In a way, this
power is only limited by the player’s imagination, since it is all about making
the unlikely come to pass. As we’ve seen before, it does fall pretty close to
its counterpart in Powers, but there are still differences and additions:
Combat Reflexes, Intuition, and Terrain Adaptation to name three.
We are also starting to see some minor overlaps between powers:
Perception and Fate Mastery both offer Enhanced Defenses and Intuition; Dream
Mastery and Telepathy (will) share Mind Reading, Mind Probe, and Mind Control.
I don’t think this is necessarily bad, but I don’t want it to get out of hand.
The current level of overlap provides multiple paths to some abilities, which
is generally good.
Telepathy
As the name suggests, this is the power to affect other people’s
minds with your own mind. I won’t get into how this is accomplished here, since
I’ve already covered that, but I will say that its capabilities really aren’t
any different than what you’d expect. I suppose, as these powers go, this is
probably the most blatantly “psychic” of all of them.
Attack Abilities
Telepathic attacks are a staple in fiction, and I don’t see why
they shouldn’t exist in a dungeon-delving game, too. Such attacks will have a
one restriction, however: They won’t inflict actual damage. At most, they can
inflict a little bit of mental fatigue, but no Scanners-style head explosions. That’s just too flashy for mystical
powers. Instead, they will largely rely on Affliction to impose Incapacitating
or Irritating Conditions, with Malediction or Based On Will and one of Melee
Attack and Sense-Based.
Defensive Abilities
Defenses will naturally include Mind Shield, but it will also
include Enhanced Defenses (any), limited to a single target. Other than this,
Telepathy tends to be more offensive or mental than defensive.
Movement Abilities
Telepathy isn’t conducive to movement abilities, since it deals
with invading and affecting minds.
Mental Abilities
As one might expect, mental abilities abound.
Communication abilities include Medium, Modular Abilities 3 with
Limited, Only for Languages (for borrowing a common language), Speak with
Animals, Speak with Plants (for plant spirits), and Telesend. The most
important aspect of Telepathy is its ability to influence others. Such
abilities include Animal Empathy, Empathy, Illusion with Mental, Mind Control,
Mind Probe, Mind Reading, Plant Empathy, Possession, Rapier Wit, Spirit
Empathy, and Terror. Considering Telepathy, it really doesn’t have what GURPS
Powers calls Information Abilities – those almost exclusively belong to
Perception. Similarly, Telepathy is weak on sensory abilities and can only
justify Detect for minds, thoughts, etc. Not mentioned yet but also suitable is
Mindlink. This lets a mystic automatically contact those he has previously
linked with. This is a great ability for allies to share!
Note that Charisma is specifically excluded. Mystics that focus
in Telepathy typically have Charisma as a side effect of their power, not as a
gift from their power.
Transformative Abilities
Physical transformations just don’t fit a purely mental power
like Telepathy, so we won’t be including any of these.
Power Perks
Beginning with Power-Ups 2 – Perks, we have the
following: Call of the Wild is a must for your typical Crocodile Dundee-type
animal taming tricks. Otherwise, most of the perks suitable for Telepathy are
relatively mundane in nature. If any fit, it’d be Influence Schticks, but I
think there are more interesting perks in Psionic Powers.
Next, Psionic Powers offers up the following: Avatar (p. 63), Gaze
into the Abyss (p. 24), I Know What You Mean (p. 63), Ping (p. 63),
Soothing Touch (p. 48), and Tactical Reading (p. 63). Of these, I think I can
safely say that Gaze into the Abyss, I Know What You Mean, and Soothing Touch
are definitely suitable. My hesitation over Avatar is merely that mysticism is
but one source of power in the setting, so I’m not sure if telepathic abilities
would be common enough for this to be more than a way for a PC to be a little
cooler. Mind you, being cool in itself may be worth it, and upon a little
consideration, other power sources do offer telepathic abilities. All of this
should justify Avatar as an option. Tactical Reading addresses one specific
ability in Psionic Powers, so, I also hesitate to include that one. For
that reason, I’m going to tentatively remove it from the list until after I
make individual abilities. Lastly, Ping appears in Dream Mastery, but it also
suits this power rather well. I’d rather include it here for completeness than
leave it out.
This gives us Avatar, Call of the Wild, Gaze into the Abyss, I
Know What You Mean, Ping, and Soothing Touch for our six power perks. This
should work out well, and after abilities are made, I’ll consider going back
and adding more to the powers. I do want to be sure that these perks feel
special, though, so I’m not sure I’ll ever include Influence Schticks.
Telepathy Abilities
Animal Empathy; Detect sentient minds, sapient minds, etc.;
Empathy; Enhanced Defenses (any) with Accessibility, One Target at a Time
(-20%); Illusion with Mental; Medium; Mind Control; Mind Probe; Mind Reading;
Mind Shield; Mindlink; Modular Abilities 3 (Cosmic) with Limited, Languages
Only (-50%); Plant Empathy; Possession; Rapier Wit; Speak with Animals; Speak
with Plants; Spirit Empathy; Telesend; and Terror.
Attacks are also possible. These are primarily based on
Affliction with one of Incapacitating or Irritating Condition, but Advantage,
Disadvantage, Negated Advantage, or Negated Disadvantage are also possible for
traits like Absent-Mindedness, Confused, Versatile, etc. Fatigue Attack is also
possible with Cannot Reduce Fatigue below Zero, (-10%). All options above must also have Malediction, Melee Attack, or
Sense-Based, and if a resistance roll is allowed, be modified as necessary to
be resisted by Will.
Power Perks: Avatar;
Call of the Wild; Gaze into the Abyss; I Know What You Mean; Ping; and Soothing
Touch.
Notes
As predicted at the start of our exploration of this power, its
abilities didn’t fall too far from the original in Powers. This one does
include speaking and empathy traits for animals, plants, and spirits for two
reasons: (1) it adheres to the fluff that says you contact entities through
their spirits and (2) there aren’t other powers in mysticism that do this.
Telepathy is the most suitable home for these, so here they are. Otherwise, I
don’t think there’s really much to say here. It’s got offense, some defense,
and a whole lot of mental abilities, as one might expect.
Soul Mastery
What does it mean to “manipulate a person’s soul” mechanically?
This is a question we will have to answer before we move on to the ability
shopping spree. We know this can inflict or heal spiritual wounds, remove corruption
– something that will get addressed in greater detail real soon –, and siphon
away a person’s life force – a very vampiric ability. But those just describe
affectations of Soul Mastery without actually defining it directly (thank you,Socrates).
A person’s soul is his essence, his being, and his connection to
Ananta. This suggests a few things about manipulating souls. Harming a soul
harms the person in a very direct way, healing a soul should heal a person
equally directly, and that connection to Ananta may or may not be vulnerable.
Up until now, a spirit’s connection to Ananta has been sacred, so I’m not sure
if I want a power to be able to attack that, and effectively serve as an
anti-power. Of course, if any power should, Soul Mastery is the one. The other
two capabilities speak to healing and harming – probably with a side of
vampirism. These are where we will spend most of our efforts.
Attack Abilities
Innate Attacks that inflict burning, corrosion, or toxic damage
are suitable for scorching, unmaking, or poisoning a person’s soul, so long as
they have Malediction. Afflictions might include those that inflict Nausea,
Retching, Unconsciousness, or Coma, and again, should have Malediction. Other
attack abilities don’t seem particularly appropriate unless we dive anti-power
traits, which we aren’t at this point.
This is also where we get to mention Leech. This power definitely fits the more nefarious
abilities we will make, so let’s mention it now.
Defensive Abilities
Defensive abilities largely center around defending against these
powers and corrupt attacks. Damage Resistance with Limited, Soul Mastery (-40%)
or Corrupt (-60%); Resistant or Immune to Soul Attacks; and Protected Power do
most of the heavy lifting here. Some others might make sense under special
circumstances but aren’t worth mentioning explicitly at this point.
Movement Abilities
Affecting souls really doesn’t equate to movement, so these
powers really don’t have a place here.
Mental Abilities
The only communication ability that strikes me as inherently
appropriate is Special Rapport with Transferable, and True Faith with Cosmic
could make for a good influence ability. The Cosmic should either remove the
dice roll or allow it to affect any
entity native to the world. I kind of like the latter, although that would be
extremely powerful; we’ll see how it works out when we make individual
abilities.
Communication abilities are generally not a great fit, but Detect
seems appropriate for finding souls – or the lack thereof, detecting
corruption, identifying diseases or sickness, etc. That plays well into the
healing aspects of this power.
Transformative Abilities
Most transformative abilities don’t really fit well. Affecting
one’s soul isn’t going to let you shapeshift, sprout wings, or turn mud into
gold. It will let you heal people, though, so Healing and Regeneration are in.
Furthermore, we might consider Afflictions with Advantage that grant Rapid
Healing, Regeneration, and Recovery.
Power Perks
Beginning with Power-Ups 2 – Perks, we have the
following: Efficient Esoteric Medicine (p. 15) and Efficient Surgery (p. 15).
These are both particularly fitting for a power that includes healing; they
effectively cut the time needed to perform lengthy medical tasks by 20%. I’m
going to list both of them, since they are just specialties of the same perk.
Next, Psionic Powers offers up the following: Controllable Lifebane
(p. 51), Healing Bond (p. 48), Life Support (p. 48), Natural Doctor (p. 48),
and Personal Awareness (p. 24). All five of these seem perfectly fitting for
this power. They give a nice blend of healing and soul-blasting perkiness for
our power. Not really much more to say here.
This gives us Controllable Lifebane, Efficient Esoteric Medicine,
Efficient Surgery, Healing Bond, Life Support, Natural Doctor, and Personal
Awareness. That’s seven, but two of them are just different specialties of the
same perk, so I’m okay with that for now. I expect to expand the power perks
lists in the future, anyway.
Soul Mastery Abilities
Damage Resistance with Limited, Soul Mastery (-40%) or Corrupt
(-60%); Healing; Protected Power; Regeneration; Resistant or Immune for soul
attacks; Special Rapport with Transferable; and True Faith, with Cosmic.
Afflictions that either represent sickness – e.g., Attribute
Penalties, Nausea, Coma, Retching, etc. – or can result in healing – e.g.,
Ecstasy, Sleep, Advantage with Rapid Healing, Regeneration, or Recovery, etc. –
are appropriate. Burning, Corrosion, or Toxic Attacks are appropriate as long
as they represent burning, annihilating, or poisoning the target’s soul.
Lastly, Leech in its many forms is also appropriate. In all cases, attacks
should have Malediction.
Power Perks: Controllable
Lifebane; Efficient Esoteric Medicine; Efficient Surgery; Healing Bond; Life
Support; Natural Doctor; Personal Awareness.
Notes
This power is still a bit ill-defined and thin on abilities. It
definitely has strong offensive capabilities and provides healing outside of
divine magic, but it isn’t terribly fleshed out just yet. I think I’ll be
taking a lengthy look at Psychic Healing and Psychic Vampirism in Psionic
Powers before really solidifying this power’s abilities. Still, for a
first pass, we have some good ideas floating around, so it’s a starting point.
Next Time...
...I will take a little break from mysticism while I scrape
together a more formalized summary of what we have so far. In the meantime,
I’ll tackle another topic that sets Starfall apart from standard GURPSDungeon Fantasy: the corrupting influence of the Maelstrom.
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