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Chaosium Digest Volume 10 Number 05
Chaosium Digest Volume 10, Number 5
Date: Sunday, April 30, 1995
Number: 2 of 3
Contents:
Solar Magic, Part II (Michael Caprio Jr.) NEPHILIM
--------------------
From: mikey@ayup.res.wpi.edu (Michael V. Caprio Jr.)
Subject: Solar Magic, Part II
System: Nephilim
Solar Magic rules v1.0
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Copyright 1995 Michael V. Caprio Jr. These rules are for personal use |
| only, and may not be distributed or reproduced beyond the Chaosium |
| Digest without the express permission of the author. |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
[contined from V10.4]
===============================================================================
C) Sphere of Space: Those with this ability are able to transcend the
ordinary bounds of space, physically or mentally.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Astral Projection - The Subject induces an OOBE-state (Out Of Body
Experience) where her non-physical consciousness is able to project
itself through space at whatever rate he chooses. The subject is also
free to use any of her powers in the area her consciousness currently
is as long as she maintains her state. However, while in astral form,
it is difficult to perceive the real world, and it is necessary to use
the Clairvoyance or Clairaudience powers to experience what is
happening there [psychics will incur an automatic +5 to difficulty in
any RANGE involved power use]. RANGE, DURATION, SPEED are all
important factors.
2) Clairvoyance - The ability to see from great distances; this power
can be used in conjunction with the Astral Projection power, but it is
not necessary unless the Subject wishes to affect the events they are
witnessing. RANGE difficulty cost is halved for those with a primary
Sphere of Space, while DURATION and ACCURACY are considered normally.
3) Clairaudience - The ability to hear from great distances; the same
can be said of this power as of Clairvoyance - the only difference is
in hearing, and not seeing. As in Clairvoyance, RANGE difficulty
values are halved for having Space as a primary Sphere.
4) Spatial Reading - This power is equivalent to the normal ability of
"tracking" an object. Subjects use this power to follow an object's
path through space; once keyed on the object, they can determine at
what points in space the object existed. This power has also been used
by some as a method of judging distances between objects, uncannily
improving their aim with missile objects. NUMBER OF OBJECTS/TARGETS,
RANGE TO OBJECTS/TARGETS, ACCURACY are all Factors.
5) Mirror Image - Use of this power entails creating an exact image
duplicate of any object; the Subject is able to "bend" space somewhat
to produce a reflecting effect - light rays in one area are bounced to
another, producing the copied image of the object in an area of the
Subject's choosing. Important Factors include ACCURACY or image, size
(RESISTANCE), NUMBER OF OBJECTS/TARGETS, and RANGE TO OBJECTS/TARGETS.
6) Side Stepping - This power allows the Subject to move parallel to
normal space (whereas normal subjects move only perpendicularly to
it). A demonstration of this ability is needed to fully explain how
this works - we believe the Subject moves out of normal space into a
higher dimension. In general, the usefulness of this power is in
evading attacks of any kinds by simply "stepping to the side" of the
area where the Subject is being attacked. Here we have RANGE, and
ACCURACY of the "step" as Factors.
7) Anchor - A Subject can use this power to make an object unmovable;
essentially, when someone or something attempts to move the object,
it's position in space reverts instantaneously to its original spot,
never actually being "moved". This power does _not_ make the subject
invulnerable to attack, he or she merely becomes an immovable object.
DURATION, RESISTANCE are Factors.
8) Expand Space - This power is essentially manipulating space to a
point of expansion; a Subject can create "more" space simply by
concentrating, and need only "recharge" the affected object instead of
having to maintain it. The manifestation of this power in real space
can be disorienting for normal people, as it is capable of creating
spectacles and optical illusions not normally witnessed. It's most
practical use is for storage, say, making a handbag capable of
carrying a bazooka. Expanded size is the most important Factor
(RESISTANCE), along with DURATION of charge.
9) Flight - Subjects have actually demonstrated the ability to
maintain a form of flight without the aid of any mechanical device. We
believe that the Subject somehow alters gravity waves (through the
warping of space) in their immediate vicinity to allow this.
DURATION, and RANGE are the most prevalent Factors.
10) Teleportation - Subjects at this advanced level actually manage to
fold three dimensional space into a higher dimension, and are able to
step through it, traveling from one point in space to another
instantaneously. ACCURACY is pretty significant... you don't want to
appear somewhere that something else is occupying. RANGE and, if more
than one teleports, NUMBER, are the other Factors for consideration.
===============================================================================
D) Sphere of Mind: This is the Sphere we understand the least about -
the inner workings of the human mind, its control and effect on other
minds.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1)Telepathy - Very simply, this is direct mind-to-mind communication.
Thoughts, expressions, words, and other lingual forms, ideas, and
images can be transmitted via this ability. Obvious factors involved
are mental strength of target (RESISTANCE), DURATION of contact, RANGE
TO OBJECT and/or RANGE TO TARGET, and if multiple contacts are made
NUMBER OF OBJECTS/NUMBER OF TARGETS.
2) Charm - Subjects with this ability tend to use their mental power
to convince the target that they are very charming or attractive,
regardless of their true appearance. Factors involved include NUMBER
OF OBJECTS/TARGETS, RESISTANCE of Objects/Targets, RANGE TO
OBJECTS/TARGETS, and DURATION of Charm.
3) Empathy - Using this power enables a Subject to determine the
feelings and emotions of a target without explicitly reading their
thoughts. The subject usually focuses their "second sight" on the
target and makes determinations based on the "aura" of the target.
RANGE, RESISTANCE, and NUMBER of Objects/Targets are crucial Factors.
4) Confusion - A Subject uses this power to befuddle a target,
flooding their mind with a barrage of nonsense images, hallucinations,
or simply large amounts of psychic "white noise". The target will
become, to say the very least, confused. Use the highest Target's INT
score halved for a RESISTANCE value [unless the Target is also an
awakened solar-ka using human - in that case, use their solar-ka value
for RESISTANCE], with RANGE and NUMBER of Objects/Targets also being
relevant Factors.
5) Sensory Boost - This power gives the Subject a heightened ability
to perceive in any of the five senses that they choose to "boost".
ACCURACY, DURATION, RANGE TO OBJECTS/TARGETS are all Factors here.
6) Mind Shielding - This is a basic ability to shield the mind against
forms of mental attack. The Subject can innately protect themselves
with a use of this power, or they can extend their protection to
others in their vicinity. RESISTANCE or strength of the attack [Solar
ka], DURATION of shield, RADIUS of shield if the field is extended are
Factors.
7) Invisibility - This power gives the Subject the ability to
literally "cloud men's minds". They are able to plant suggestions in a
target's mind that compel them to not see the Subject. RESISTANCE is
the same as in the Confuse power, and DURATION and NUMBER OF
OBJECTS/TARGETS are the other important Factors.
8) Mesmerism - This advanced form of hypnotism allows the subject to
issue commands to another human mind in the form of post-hypnotic
suggestions, simple commands and actions, and of course, triggers to
activate those directives. NUMBER OF OBJECTS/TARGETS, RANGE TO
OBJECTS/TARGETS (usually not a Factor), RESISTANCE if the Object is
not willing to perform the task.
9) Mind Reading - A Subject with this power is able to process the
contents of another's mind: current thoughts in short-term memory,
long-term memories, images, and any other kind of cerebral activity,
literally "reading" the target's mind like a book. RESISTANCE should
be calculated as in the Confusion power, along with DURATION of
contact (consider the activity comparable to researching in a book,
looking for information, etc.), NUMBER, and RANGE.
10) Mind Control - The Subject literally "possesses" the mind of
another human, giving him complete control over their actions. Use
RESISTANCE as Mind Reading, and include: DURATION of contact, RANGE TO
OBJECTS/TARGETS, NUMBER OF OBJECTS/TARGETS are all Factors involved.
===============================================================================
You may have noticed that some of these power descriptions appear
vague, or perhaps contradictory, or repetitive. The sole reason for
that is that we as researchers do not fully understand the nature of
these powers at this time - there may very well be some powers that we
have not observed that exist, or that there are as yet untapped
applications of these powers that we have not discovered. Invariably
our Subjects do not understand these things themselves; they describe
the use of their powers as a kind of "click" in the mind, or a simple
extension of their natural abilities, something that just "comes to
them."
Our Subjects also invariably appear to concentrate on a primary
sphere, then choose a secondary sphere of proficiency, leaving them a
minor opposing, and major opposing sphere. For example:
Madame Blavatsky, fortune teller extraordinaire, takes Time for her
major Sphere, and Mind for her secondary Sphere, leaving her with a
minor opposing Sphere of Matter, and a major opposing Sphere of Space.
Difficulties in creating effects from each Sphere will be adjusted
accordingly.
Strength of a subject's ability is related to a sense of scale - it is
much harder to lift a boulder than to lift a pebble. Psychic ability
apparently relates to the amount of willpower the subject has, though
there is also something to be said for experience and training in
their various abilities.
[Another note: Skill modifier distributions for Spheres will be
adjusted on this basis - 100% primary, 75% secondary, 50% minor opp.,
25% major opp. Players may place modifiers to any amount in any power
they choose up to those totals. ie: A character with a major Sphere of
Time will get to split 100% in skill modifiers among the 10 Time
Skills, as he sees fit. See part 3 of this article in V10.6 for some
specific examples.]
Here we have two arbitrary tables that seem to relate difficulty to
various scales of various tasks, along with the strength of the
subject's ability:
[A Scaled Down Version of the Resistance Table]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 |
|1 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 X X X X X X X X X |
|2 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 X X X X X X X X |
|3 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 X X X X X X X |
|4 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 X X X X X X |
|5 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 X X X X X |
|6 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 X X X X |
|7 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 X X X |
|8 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 X X |
|9 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 X |
|10 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 |
|11 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 |
|12 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 |
|13 0 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 |
|14 0 0 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 |
|15 0 0 0 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 |
|16 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 |
|17 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 |
|18 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 |
|19 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 |
|20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
X - automatic success 0 - automatic failure
[Factor Chart]
=============================================================================
1 1ft 1s 1lb. 1mph Slight resistance
2 5ft 5s 5lbs. 5mph Uncertainty
3 10ft 20s 10lbs. 10mph Openly resisting
4 20ft 40s 15lbs. 20mph Stubborn refusal
5 30ft 1min 20lbs. 25mph Worried
6 40ft 2min 40lbs. 30mph Frantic
7 50ft 5min 60lbs. 35mph Unreasonable
8 60ft 10min 80lbs. 40mph Afraid
9 70ft 20min 100lbs. 45mph Openly afraid
10 80ft 40min 120lbs. 50mph Afraid of Subject
11 90ft 1hr 140lbs. 55mph Violently afraid
12 100ft 2hr 160lbs. 60mph Hostile
13 125ft 5hr 180lbs. 65mph Openly hostile
14 150ft 12hr 200lbs. 70mph Actively hostile
15 175ft 1day 225lbs. 75mph Very hostile
16 200ft 5days 250lbs. 80mph Physically violent
17 250ft 12days 300lbs. 85mph Frenzied
18 300ft 1month 350lbs. 90mph Murderous intent
19 400ft 6months 400lbs. 95mph Rabidly psychotic
20 500ft 1year 500lbs. 100mph Utterly Berzerk
[Here's a slightly more in depth description of the Factor Chart, and
the Factor system in general: The whole point of creating the system
in this manner is to allow the players the freedom to choose what kind
of effects they want to generate. They can use their powers in
whatever manner they see fit, and then the GM refers to this stuff to
try and determine how difficult the action is. I wanted it to be as
general and free form as possible, and I think that the power
descriptions reflect that. So in saying that, I give you the Factor
Chart: the Chart is meant to provide GMs and players alike with that
"sense of scale" described earlier. Simply locate the magnitude of the
Factor on the Chart (whether it's in feet or mph or whatever), and use
that value's modifier to determine your Difficulty Potential. It's a
pretty fast and loose thing, and you should of course use your best
judgement in all cases anyway rather than deferring to a chart. Below
you'll find a couple of examples of the use of the two tables...]
Here's how to use the charts: EXAMPLE:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
1) First, determine your Subject's psychic strength 15
[Note: This character is in her primary sphere, thus she is able to
use 100% solar-ka. if she was attempting an action in her secondary,
she would use 75% solar-ka rounded _off_ (not up or down), or 12]
2) Next, determine the Factors in your Subject's task, according to
the power descriptions we provide.
Psychokinesis -
ex. Subject A, an unusually powerful psychic talent,
will attempt to lift a chair and hurl it against
a wall, hopefully breaking the chair.
Let us say that the chair weighs 15 lbs. (typical
office chair). The Subject is standing next to it,
so distance from it is 0. He wishes to move it a
distance of 10 ft. at a rate of say, 45 mph.
3) One now determines a difficulty potential according 17
to those numbers.
[Now this is where that Factor Chart comes in. You use it to
determine a Passive number on the Resistance Table to oppose your
Active Solar-ka. Adding together all the Factors in the action, you
arrive at a Difficulty Potential number (refer to later section on
Determining Difficulty Potentials)]
DISTANCE FROM OBJECT: 0 (about +1 per 5 ft.)
DISTANCE TO TARGET: 3 (about +1 per 5 ft.)
RESISTANCE: 4 (about +1 per 5 lbs.)
SPEED: 10 (about +1 per 5 mph)
4) Cross reference the Subject's Active strength with 40%
the Object's Passive difficulty potential to achieve
the base percent chance of success.
5) Add or subtract whatever skill or difficulty modifiers
you feel necessary.
Subject A has a +15% Skill Modifier in the Psychokinesis
skill. There is no distraction, so his final percent is: 55%
High stress situations, such as combat, can have
Difficulty Modifiers anywhere up to -25%.
6) Finally, make your resistance roll, and then your solar-ka
roll.
Here's another example:
The Amazing Kreskin is being chased by mysterious Men in Black. He
feels that the only way he can escape is to face his opponents and
attempt to dissuade them with his Mind skills. He lets himself get
cornered in an alleyway as the MIB approach.
"Wait, can't we talk this over?" says Kreskin, as he starts using his
Charm ability.
There are three MIB, and they are all very hostile. Kreskin only wants
to distract them for a short time, long enough for him to get away. In
general, in determining Difficulty Potentials, there is a "Rule of
Five" based on a scale of 1 to 20, from least to most difficult. In
this case, we have +3 (+1 per NUMBER OF TARGET), +15 for RESISTANCE
(they don't want to kill him, they just want to capture him _very_
badly), +2 for RANGE, and +2 for DURATION (Kreskin needs a few seconds
to escape), giving a grand total of +22 - this is a nigh impossible
action.
Kreskin is not without hope. His will is strong, a 16 - leaving wim
with a base chance of 20% to convince his captors to let him go.
Unfortunately, he's a little stressed out at this time, giving him a
-15% Difficulty Modifier. But, his Charm skill is very impressive - a
+20% modifier - leaving him with a total of 25%.
So Kreskin concentrates with all of his might... and rolls a 28. Not
quite enough to convince all of them... but one of them is convinced,
and starts trying to convince the others to let Kreskin go. A fight
ensues, Men in Black being the brutish fellows they are, and Kreskin
gets a chance to escape - but the Men in Black soon realize their
error and begin pursuit again.
[In this example, Kreskin also rolled a Critical Success on his Ka
roll. Critical Success is 10% or less of the solar-ka roll, so Kreskin
rolled a 03 or 04. Critical Success (in my mind) lets you look over
little things like being a few skill points off on the initial roll,
and gives you some measure of success (like the one MIB being
charmed). Of course, the opposite is true of Critical Failure -
effects from that may include temporary loss of power, terrible
debilitating headaches, or even more unexpected effects than usual.]
[Finally, here is a GM example:
Roderick has a 16 solar-ka, and has a primary in Time. He wants to use
Anchor, which is a Middle level Space discipline. His skill roll here
is going to be tough - he only gets a 4 on the Universal Modifier, but
he figures it won't be all that difficult. He challenges anyone in the
room to pick him up, and a somewhat burly gentleman comes along
(RESISTANCE 6 or 7). He's not stressed, and he only wants a short
DURATION, so his Difficulty potential is 10. He's got a 20% base
chance. But he happens to have poured all his skill points into
Anchor, so he gets an extra 25%. He rolls under 45% for the skill
check, and now has to roll under 32% for the ka check. Miraculously,
he makes it, subtracts 3 Aura (round it _off_), and the burly
gentleman is confused as to why he can't pick up such a small guy.
Suppose Space was Rod's primary sphere. He would then have a base
chance of 80%, +25% to make a total of 105%, an automatic success.
But, he would still have to roll under 32% to suceed at the Ka roll]
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
To determine the physical effect of the psychic action on the Subject,
one simply takes the Difficulty potential and divides it by 4, rounded
up. Subtract this amount from the Subject's starting Aura.
Aura is a measure of "psychic stamina" that our Subjects use to
determine their current strength [and is initially equal to their CON,
regainable at one point per hour]. They use the word Aura to also
describe their perception of the unseen world around them [read: Ka
fields and Ka-vision]. A Subject can only perform as many tasks as his
Aura allows... thereafter, physical damage to the body may ensue, if
they choose to push their limits. [GM choice]
In conclusion, it is difficult to truly determine whether the
appearance of these abilities is an indication of the next step in
human evolution. I will endeavor however to name the new species of
mankind that is enabled with these psychic abilities - Homo
Psychobilus. Though most of our group realizes that it is unlikely
that the majority of this report will be believed, it is our hope that
studies in this area will continue, as there seems to be a very good
chance that
[Report ends here; the remainder of the document appears to have been
destroyed in a fire. A Tower Pyrim maybe...?]
[continued in V10.6]
--------------------
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