[[powers]]

Powers

Introduction

When generating a character, you get 4 points to spend on your Skills and 8 points to spend on both Powers and Skills. Powers go up to a maximum level of 5. However, 3 is the highest level available at character creation. During Advancement, it costs 1 point to raise your level, with the exception of a 2 point cost to increase a power to level 5.

Superpowers are separated into seven different categories. Each of these categories encompasses a broad range of actual superpowers, but it is up to you to decide what your abilities within each category are. However, whatever flavour of abilities you choose, two powers that both have the same level of a given category will be just as powerful as one another. It can be assumed that any natural enhancements to your power come along with the power itself (e.g. if you summon fire, you can assume your hands won't be burned off).

Each category below lists example powers (for specific power sets) you might expect to have at each level, but depending on your power, the limits will change - upon character creation, the GMs will give you a list of what each level in your current power will correspond to for future advancements.

Also note that repeatedly pushing your Powers to their limits will quickly tire out your character, or wear out the tech they are using, but the abilities of lower levels of power can be used more frequently. For example, someone with Transport 4 would need to push themselves to their limits to outrun a speeding train and would likely need to slow down for a bit afterwards, but could quite happily keep pace with traffic whenever they need.

Banned Powers

For various reasons, we have decided that certain superpowers are not appropriate for CRISIS! As such, the following is a list of superpowers that players are unable to have in game. However, there are so many potential powers that this list cannot be complete - other powers may be disallowed at GM discretion if we think they might lead to problems. If you have a zany power that you think might not be allowed, feel free to ask us about it!

  • Mind control / manipulation - You cannot take control another character (PC or NPC), or alter their mind in any way. This ban applies to intelligent life, so while manipulating a human, intelligent alien life, enhanced lab animal, etc., is not possible, you may be able to manipulate creatures with simpler minds, such as ants or dolphins.
  • Mind reading - You cannot read the minds of any intelligent life form, but it may be possible to derive simple thoughts or ideas from less intelligent life (see previous point).
  • Precognition/prophetic visions or otherwise seeing or predicting future events - It is not possible to see into any kind of future, whether it is the future of your timeline, or the future of a timeline running in parallel. However, gaining some information from time travelling may be possible before game start. For more information, see History.
  • Retrocognition - It is not possible to see into any kind of past, from your timeline or otherwise (see previous point).
  • Necromancy - It is not possible for your power to bring someone completely and totally back from the dead. The most that can be managed is reanimating corpses with, at best, animal intelligence. Resurrecting a soul or a consciousness of someone who has passed away is also impossible.
  • Power nullification - Your powers cannot include nullifying other people's powers. Through research, thievery, or other sensible-yet-significant effort, it may be possible to nullify one specific person's powers e.g. through stealing their supersuit, but this will not be permanent for the nullified powers in question.
  • Power draining - Your powers cannot include draining someone's power to use as your own.
  • Power copying - Your powers cannot include copying someone's power to use as your own.
  • Time travel - You cannot time travel during the course of the game. However, it may be possible for you to have arrived at this time and place due to time travel (whether accidental or intentional). For more information, see History. Please note that due to the high energy costs of time travel, it would be impossible for your power to involve small time jumps (e.g. ten seconds, a minute), or brief time freezes. Even if your character were theoretically able to use this power, they would die before they managed to implement it successfully.
  • 'Meta' powers - e.g. altering the probability of events, changing the gravitational constant.
  • Super intelligence - Your powers cannot include enhanced intelligence. Intelligence is described by the skills your character has. You may choose to explain the way your character obtained/learned their skills as due to some kind of 'intelligence enhancement', but your skills at a given level will be considered no better than anyone else's at that level.

Alteration

Alteration encompasses pretty much all powers that allow you to change the properties of something external. Powers that allow you to heal others also fall under the Alteration category. These powers will not work on other characters (PCs or NPCs), unless they are willing to have that change done to them. The only exception to this is healing a character who is unconscious or otherwise unable to approve the change.

Examples

Control

Control is the subset of Powers that allow you to manipulate a substance or creature. Whether it be Forcefields, Bees, Fire or Ice Cream, you can affect that type of item according to your will. When applied to creatures, it generally allows you some form of mental command over their actions, whilst those powers that apply more to substances or the classical elements generally exhibit the ability to manipulate the substance within your vicinity, but is of no help to you if that substance is not in your vicinity.

GM Note: Please note that, as mentioned above, Control powers cannot be used to take control of humans (or aliens or other beings of equivalent intelligence), whether they be NPCs or PCs.

Examples

Creation

You can create things out of thin air. Examples include making plants and trees, or summoning fireballs. It should be noted that when conjuring something up, it may have momentum (e.g. fireballs) without points in Control, but to manipulate it after the initial creation (e.g. firing a fireball around a corner), the relevant power will also be needed.

Examples

Movement

Movement powers are those that allow you to get from location A to location B far quicker than the average human being. Very useful for staying out of a fight, or stopping the other guy from landing a punch, whether you have superspeed, teleportation, the ability to tunnel through the Earth, or just plain old flight, you move around far more easily than those without these powers.

Examples

Sensory

Sensory powers are those that advance your senses above and beyond those humans generally possess. Just because you are able to sense or observe something with these powers does not imply you are able to understand what you are sensing.

Sample Sensory powers include: “Danger Sense”, “Heightened [Normal Sense]” “X-Ray/Ultraviolet Vision” “Sensing Magnetic Fields”, etc etc.

Examples

Toughness

This is enhancements to your personal strength. Whether you can punch harder, or you are more resistant to fire, you still resemble your normal form when your power is used. Self-healing may come under toughness, although this may also fit into other categories.

Examples

Transformation

You have the ability to alter your body. This covers anything from shrinking yourself to the size of an ant, changing your body to metal or becoming invisible. Self-healing may come under transformation, although this may also fit into other categories.

Examples
powers.txt · Last modified: 2015/04/03 00:31 by gm_michael
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