Post by gradius on Jun 16, 2015 1:54:47 GMT -8
POWER UP!
A hero has to be at his or her best, and constant training is the best way to achieve that. There are limitations to how far one can go, but it's your duty as a metahuman to push those boundaries to the limit! Here's how.
Leveling up can occur in a few different ways.
The simplest way is by acquiring Skills, which modify rolls or add abilities to the character's repitoirre that aren't quite grand enough to be considered 'powers'.
The second is in honing one's Metahuman abilities, or Powers. How one is able to do this depends on the type of power they intend to hone, and in what way, but the most basic methods are to increase the Class, or increase one's control.
On a secondary note, bridging the gap between Skills and Powers, is the ability to learn Power Stunts. Specialized applications of one's power; These are similar to learning new spells as an Innate caster, but more limited in scope. Whatever you learn to do must be in some way related to the power the Stunt sprang from, at the Op's discretion.
The third and most difficult is to simply train the body beyond its current abilities. This raises your FASE RIP, and is the most expensive, time consuming, and high maintainance form of improvement.
While these methods can be done 'cold turkey', there exist special training grounds or teachers that can help push you to your limits with greater ease. Access to such a place or such a person can be rewarding.. If you can hack it. These special courses have their own parameters for success independent of the standard.
Regardless of format, true improvement takes focus; A character can only be benefitting from one form of training at a time, including special courses. Rolls are made once a week, but efforts can be continued into the next day if a Yellow is rolled. This effect 'chains' until the character rolls something besides a Yellow or a Green, at which point they cannot roll again until the next session.
One 'Success' is a Yellow roll. A Green grants half of one, and a Red grants 3 of them.
SKILL LEARNING
Learning a new Skill can be very complicated or very simple. If you have a teacher, you merely need to make the right number of successes, spend a little karma, and work at it.
If you don't, you'll have to research the skill cold turkey. Essentially, you must complete the process twice; Once using your Reasoning, and the second time using the stat that it is rolled with (Even if that stat is also Reasoning).
Costs and requirements start low, but as you round out your abilities, they slowly grow more and more expensive.
Divide your Mental Health by 5 (Or 3, if you have NO POWERS whatsoever). This is how many skills you can learn before you start to stretch your limits. Once you reach that number, the Karma cost and successes required start to rise. Beware when choosing new skills to learn... Unlearning one can prove surprisingly difficult.
Standard; 50 Karma and 1 Success per skill.
Strained; After limit is met, add +10 to Karma requirement and 1 more Success necessary per extra skill.
Skills learned through Special Courses don't count toward your total.
POWERS
Powers are versatile, and can be enhanced in numerous ways. The simplest however are to raise the Class of the power, or the fineness of the control over that power. A pyrokinetic learning to burn hotter or throw MORE fire is enhancing Class. A pyrokinetic learning to release fire without burning down the forest is enhancing control.
Control may not apply to all powers. Enhancing Control reduces 'power incontinence', weakens the downsides of a power, increases duration, and at its peak, grants a simple +1CS to actions taken using that power. Once this happens, you have achieved basic mastery and must focus on Stunts or Class. The cost and successes needed vary from power to power, but generally Psyche is what is rolled to achieve them.
Power does just what it says on the tin; The Class of the ability, whatever it impacts, raises by one. The Successes needed and Karma cost are listed below; Whatever the power is raising to, that is the cost.
Passive abilities, or those that are 'always on', may or may not be upgradable. If they are, it will cost twice the normal Karma and you may have to 'justify' the growth somehow. Wolverine isn't going to get better at healing by thinking about it real hard.
An op can, at any time, state that an ability has hit its maximum potential for the moment and will require some sort of breakthrough to continue growing.
Good: 1, 200 Karma.
Excellent: 2, 400 Karma.
Remarkable: 3, 600 Karma.
Incredible: 4, 800 Karma.
Amazing: 5, 1000 Karma. This is a very common place for a Breakthrough to be required, or for the power to simply cap out.
Monstrous: 7, 1400 Karma.
Unearthly: 10, 2000 Karma.
Alternatively, a character can learn Power Stunts. These are more specialized than simply 'increasing control', and function on a sort of sliding scale. A Stunt gives something up and gains something in return, or carries the effect of the power in a different direction.
The exact nature of the stunt is discussed with an Op, then earned, using the same graph as above with the Class of the power it functions off of, though Karma cost is halved and may be further reduced th emore reasonable the stunt is. The Class of the stunt itself is considered, generally, one rank lower than its 'parent' ability. But reverses if the Stunt trades versatility for power. If this is the case, pay the cost of the Stunts rank instead of the parent.
Sample Stunts:
Perry the Pyro has Excellent class Pyrokinesis, which he can use to pelt a single target with an Excellent fire damage bolt! But he wants to be able to set MORE people on fire at once! He pays 100 Karma and makes 1 successful training check, learning to burst his flames outward and strike three targets at once, with Good damage each.
Katie the Cryo can project a Good class aura of chill, which deals Good ice damage to five targets surrounding her. But she wants a little more mmph. She spends 200 Karma and makes 2 successful training checks, learning a Stunt that allows her to channel her aura into a focused beam dealing Excellent damage. Because the damage went UP, the cost for Excellent was paid instead of Good.
Archetype Specific
:Mundane: A character that lacks powers of any kind. Their minds clear of raging X Factors or crazy magic, they are able to devote more of themselves to the pursuit of their interests.
Skill Mastery - A Mundane is able to create psuedo-powers which function off a learned Skill. The Class of these powers is half that of the characters roll for that skill. The cost and training required are otherwise the same as a power of that rank. Each Mastery counts as 2 toward the character's number of skills.
:Mutant:
Sudden Mutation - A Mutant's X Gene roils beneath the surface, a chaotic chromosome that can spike seemingly at random. A Mutant can spend half the standard cost of any Rank of power, and spin essentially a roulette of possible new powers to gain. These abilities start at Typical, but rise with use and practice, eventually reaching the Rank that was initially paid for. Instead of Successes, it requires the power be used that many times per level (So once for Good, two after that for Excellent, three after that for Remarkable, ect). A passive ability is considered 'used' every time it does what it does.
Once they hit their proper level, a Mutant can recover half the Karma spent and lose the power via an appropriately intense bit of RP.
Stress Mutation - A Mutant under great stress will sometimes spontaneously develop a means to protect themselves. If under 25% HP, the Mutant can spend twice the cost of any power rank to immediately gain a power of that rank which helps them survive. This can be related or unrelated to their 'core' power set, but may function better if used to take a Power Stunt or a closely related ability.
:Altered Human/Beast:
Checkup - An Altered character can be assisted by another familiar with the methods used to enhance it. Whether science or sorcery, this cuts Karma costs by 25% as long as the helper makes the necessary number of Successes using their skill rating. This counts as a Project in their dossier. The assistant can also help pay the Karma cost from his or her own pocket, but this is strictly voluntary.
:Beast:
Atavism - A mongrel or a mutt may lack pedigree and still contain within them a drop of ancient blood. Activating the power of Atavism reveals a beastkin's true nature, whether they be secretly kin to the Hounds of Baskerville, or carry the blessed blood of an ancient temple dog. Activating the Atavism, the player may alter the character's story somewhat to include a still more fantastic element. Once this is chosen, all Atavism powers must follow the same basic scheme set forth by the original.
This grants a brand new power set related to prehistoric power, divine blessing, or simply damn good breeding that had lain dormant until invoked by great duress. If the Beast is under 25% HP, they can spend twice the cost of any power rank to immediately gain a power set, which can then be powered up or used to access Stunts.
Atavism is also available to aliens and innately magical beasts such as dragons. In these cases though it more often relates to unlocking abilities thought to have evolved out, or that have been forbidden.
BULK UP!
The most straightforward, but most difficult improvement. Pure improvement of the self. The body, the mind, the FASE RIP.
Enhancing base stats is extremely expensive, time consuming, and how far you can go is strictly limited without severe story reasons to go beyond. Your race has a hand in dictating these limits, but a good rule of thumb for Humans is 'Captain America -1CS', with one, maybe two stats meeting his status of Peak Human.
If you aren't human, the rules grow foggier... Mutants have a proclivity toward extreme endurance, while seemingly godlike beings form an actualized potential that cannot be taken much if any further. A good rule of thumb though if you aren't under the Captain America rule, is that no stat can go more than 1CS higher than where it started. With extreme training, perhaps one or two of them can achieve +2CS.
But an Op can deny any attempt to elevate a base stat for any reason. You can argue your case within reason, but in the end it's just not good for the balance of the game if this isn't closely monitored.
Good: 2, 400 Karma.
Excellent: 3, 600 Karma. Peak Human Reasoning without natural genius or a lifetime of devotion to study.
Remarkable: 4, 800 Karma. Peak Human Strength, Endurance, and Reasoning without natural genius AND a lifetime of devotion to study.
Incredible: 5, 1000 Karma. Peak Human Agility, Intuition, and Psyche (without psionic or magic power)
Amazing: 6, 2000 Karma. Peak Human Fighting, a common peak for many stats.
Monstrous: 10, 3000 Karma.
Unearthly: 15, 4000 Karma.
A hero has to be at his or her best, and constant training is the best way to achieve that. There are limitations to how far one can go, but it's your duty as a metahuman to push those boundaries to the limit! Here's how.
Leveling up can occur in a few different ways.
The simplest way is by acquiring Skills, which modify rolls or add abilities to the character's repitoirre that aren't quite grand enough to be considered 'powers'.
The second is in honing one's Metahuman abilities, or Powers. How one is able to do this depends on the type of power they intend to hone, and in what way, but the most basic methods are to increase the Class, or increase one's control.
On a secondary note, bridging the gap between Skills and Powers, is the ability to learn Power Stunts. Specialized applications of one's power; These are similar to learning new spells as an Innate caster, but more limited in scope. Whatever you learn to do must be in some way related to the power the Stunt sprang from, at the Op's discretion.
The third and most difficult is to simply train the body beyond its current abilities. This raises your FASE RIP, and is the most expensive, time consuming, and high maintainance form of improvement.
While these methods can be done 'cold turkey', there exist special training grounds or teachers that can help push you to your limits with greater ease. Access to such a place or such a person can be rewarding.. If you can hack it. These special courses have their own parameters for success independent of the standard.
Regardless of format, true improvement takes focus; A character can only be benefitting from one form of training at a time, including special courses. Rolls are made once a week, but efforts can be continued into the next day if a Yellow is rolled. This effect 'chains' until the character rolls something besides a Yellow or a Green, at which point they cannot roll again until the next session.
One 'Success' is a Yellow roll. A Green grants half of one, and a Red grants 3 of them.
SKILL LEARNING
Learning a new Skill can be very complicated or very simple. If you have a teacher, you merely need to make the right number of successes, spend a little karma, and work at it.
If you don't, you'll have to research the skill cold turkey. Essentially, you must complete the process twice; Once using your Reasoning, and the second time using the stat that it is rolled with (Even if that stat is also Reasoning).
Costs and requirements start low, but as you round out your abilities, they slowly grow more and more expensive.
Divide your Mental Health by 5 (Or 3, if you have NO POWERS whatsoever). This is how many skills you can learn before you start to stretch your limits. Once you reach that number, the Karma cost and successes required start to rise. Beware when choosing new skills to learn... Unlearning one can prove surprisingly difficult.
Standard; 50 Karma and 1 Success per skill.
Strained; After limit is met, add +10 to Karma requirement and 1 more Success necessary per extra skill.
Skills learned through Special Courses don't count toward your total.
POWERS
Powers are versatile, and can be enhanced in numerous ways. The simplest however are to raise the Class of the power, or the fineness of the control over that power. A pyrokinetic learning to burn hotter or throw MORE fire is enhancing Class. A pyrokinetic learning to release fire without burning down the forest is enhancing control.
Control may not apply to all powers. Enhancing Control reduces 'power incontinence', weakens the downsides of a power, increases duration, and at its peak, grants a simple +1CS to actions taken using that power. Once this happens, you have achieved basic mastery and must focus on Stunts or Class. The cost and successes needed vary from power to power, but generally Psyche is what is rolled to achieve them.
Power does just what it says on the tin; The Class of the ability, whatever it impacts, raises by one. The Successes needed and Karma cost are listed below; Whatever the power is raising to, that is the cost.
Passive abilities, or those that are 'always on', may or may not be upgradable. If they are, it will cost twice the normal Karma and you may have to 'justify' the growth somehow. Wolverine isn't going to get better at healing by thinking about it real hard.
An op can, at any time, state that an ability has hit its maximum potential for the moment and will require some sort of breakthrough to continue growing.
Good: 1, 200 Karma.
Excellent: 2, 400 Karma.
Remarkable: 3, 600 Karma.
Incredible: 4, 800 Karma.
Amazing: 5, 1000 Karma. This is a very common place for a Breakthrough to be required, or for the power to simply cap out.
Monstrous: 7, 1400 Karma.
Unearthly: 10, 2000 Karma.
Alternatively, a character can learn Power Stunts. These are more specialized than simply 'increasing control', and function on a sort of sliding scale. A Stunt gives something up and gains something in return, or carries the effect of the power in a different direction.
The exact nature of the stunt is discussed with an Op, then earned, using the same graph as above with the Class of the power it functions off of, though Karma cost is halved and may be further reduced th emore reasonable the stunt is. The Class of the stunt itself is considered, generally, one rank lower than its 'parent' ability. But reverses if the Stunt trades versatility for power. If this is the case, pay the cost of the Stunts rank instead of the parent.
Sample Stunts:
Perry the Pyro has Excellent class Pyrokinesis, which he can use to pelt a single target with an Excellent fire damage bolt! But he wants to be able to set MORE people on fire at once! He pays 100 Karma and makes 1 successful training check, learning to burst his flames outward and strike three targets at once, with Good damage each.
Katie the Cryo can project a Good class aura of chill, which deals Good ice damage to five targets surrounding her. But she wants a little more mmph. She spends 200 Karma and makes 2 successful training checks, learning a Stunt that allows her to channel her aura into a focused beam dealing Excellent damage. Because the damage went UP, the cost for Excellent was paid instead of Good.
Archetype Specific
:Mundane: A character that lacks powers of any kind. Their minds clear of raging X Factors or crazy magic, they are able to devote more of themselves to the pursuit of their interests.
Skill Mastery - A Mundane is able to create psuedo-powers which function off a learned Skill. The Class of these powers is half that of the characters roll for that skill. The cost and training required are otherwise the same as a power of that rank. Each Mastery counts as 2 toward the character's number of skills.
:Mutant:
Sudden Mutation - A Mutant's X Gene roils beneath the surface, a chaotic chromosome that can spike seemingly at random. A Mutant can spend half the standard cost of any Rank of power, and spin essentially a roulette of possible new powers to gain. These abilities start at Typical, but rise with use and practice, eventually reaching the Rank that was initially paid for. Instead of Successes, it requires the power be used that many times per level (So once for Good, two after that for Excellent, three after that for Remarkable, ect). A passive ability is considered 'used' every time it does what it does.
Once they hit their proper level, a Mutant can recover half the Karma spent and lose the power via an appropriately intense bit of RP.
Stress Mutation - A Mutant under great stress will sometimes spontaneously develop a means to protect themselves. If under 25% HP, the Mutant can spend twice the cost of any power rank to immediately gain a power of that rank which helps them survive. This can be related or unrelated to their 'core' power set, but may function better if used to take a Power Stunt or a closely related ability.
:Altered Human/Beast:
Checkup - An Altered character can be assisted by another familiar with the methods used to enhance it. Whether science or sorcery, this cuts Karma costs by 25% as long as the helper makes the necessary number of Successes using their skill rating. This counts as a Project in their dossier. The assistant can also help pay the Karma cost from his or her own pocket, but this is strictly voluntary.
:Beast:
Atavism - A mongrel or a mutt may lack pedigree and still contain within them a drop of ancient blood. Activating the power of Atavism reveals a beastkin's true nature, whether they be secretly kin to the Hounds of Baskerville, or carry the blessed blood of an ancient temple dog. Activating the Atavism, the player may alter the character's story somewhat to include a still more fantastic element. Once this is chosen, all Atavism powers must follow the same basic scheme set forth by the original.
This grants a brand new power set related to prehistoric power, divine blessing, or simply damn good breeding that had lain dormant until invoked by great duress. If the Beast is under 25% HP, they can spend twice the cost of any power rank to immediately gain a power set, which can then be powered up or used to access Stunts.
Atavism is also available to aliens and innately magical beasts such as dragons. In these cases though it more often relates to unlocking abilities thought to have evolved out, or that have been forbidden.
BULK UP!
The most straightforward, but most difficult improvement. Pure improvement of the self. The body, the mind, the FASE RIP.
Enhancing base stats is extremely expensive, time consuming, and how far you can go is strictly limited without severe story reasons to go beyond. Your race has a hand in dictating these limits, but a good rule of thumb for Humans is 'Captain America -1CS', with one, maybe two stats meeting his status of Peak Human.
If you aren't human, the rules grow foggier... Mutants have a proclivity toward extreme endurance, while seemingly godlike beings form an actualized potential that cannot be taken much if any further. A good rule of thumb though if you aren't under the Captain America rule, is that no stat can go more than 1CS higher than where it started. With extreme training, perhaps one or two of them can achieve +2CS.
But an Op can deny any attempt to elevate a base stat for any reason. You can argue your case within reason, but in the end it's just not good for the balance of the game if this isn't closely monitored.
Good: 2, 400 Karma.
Excellent: 3, 600 Karma. Peak Human Reasoning without natural genius or a lifetime of devotion to study.
Remarkable: 4, 800 Karma. Peak Human Strength, Endurance, and Reasoning without natural genius AND a lifetime of devotion to study.
Incredible: 5, 1000 Karma. Peak Human Agility, Intuition, and Psyche (without psionic or magic power)
Amazing: 6, 2000 Karma. Peak Human Fighting, a common peak for many stats.
Monstrous: 10, 3000 Karma.
Unearthly: 15, 4000 Karma.