Electrokinesis

Key Attribute: Focus

Electrokinesis is the ability to manipulate electrical energy and current with one’s mind. This potent ability is commonly depicted as a person shooting lightning bolts from his fingertips, but it encompasses more than just the destructive side of electricity. With this power, characters can not only zap their enemies with bolts of lightning, they can manipulate electrical current and devices which operate electronically, such as computers, alarm systems, electric vehicles, etc.

Examples of electrokinesis ladder results:

• Abysmal (-3): Your attempt fails, electrical feedback causes you to receive one Hurt wound and you cause one Incapacitated wound to any device you are trying to manipulate (if applicable).
• Poor (-2): Your attempt fails and you cause one Very Hurt wound to any device you are trying to manipulate.
• Mediocre (-1): Your attempt fails and you cause one Hurt wound to any device you are trying to manipulate.
• Fair (0): Your attempt simply fails.
• Good (+1): You disable a device or take control of it for 1 minute.

• Great (+2): You disable a device for 10 minutes, take control of it for 10 minutes, etc. Where ap- propriate, you can program a device (such as a computer) to carry out orders which it will continue to operate for the duration before returning to its regular
• Superb (+3): You disable a device for 1 hour, take control of a device for 1 hour, Where appro- priate, you can program a device (such as a computer) to carry out orders which it will continue to operate for the duration before returning to its regular programming.
• Wonderful (+4): You disable a device for 1 day, take control of a device for 1 day, etc. Where appropriate, you can program a device (such as a computer) to carry out orders which it will continue to operate indefinitely or as defined by you.
• Phenomenal (+5): You permanently disable or take control over a device, You can reprogram computers and other software-driven devices to execute your commands indefinitely.
• Extraordinary: As a Phenomenal result, but you may control up to three devices
• Astonishing: As a Phenomenal result, but you can control up to ten devices simultaneously.

Individual devices will have difficulties appropriate to their size and complexity. Disabling a light bulb may only have a Mediocre (-1) difficulty since it is a small and simple object, whereas disabling an entire power plant would require you to first break in and find the central control system, then make a check to disable it (most likely a Phenomenal difficulty, though the check would depend on the system’s security rating).

Use your best judgment when determining damage dealt to an electronic device or system. If a character receives a result of Abysmal (-3) when attempting to take out a power plant’s central systems, he likely will not deal any harm to the system (it is probably well-guarded against such attacks). He may damage a single nearby structure which may, in turn, have its own side effects.

Failure should never be rewarded by becoming a haphazard success (such as taking out the power plant because you accidentally blew it up, as opposed to just shutting it down); the end result of disabling the power plant is the same in this situation even if the method is drastically different).

Example Gift/Fault: Cyberpsi: This can be either a Gift or a fault, depending on the setting.

As a gift, cyberpsi grants a +1 bonus to a character’s roll when using electrokinesis to manipulate computers and other electronic devices which run software. For settings in which computer hacking is particularly important or powerful, cyberpsi may be a required gift for any character who wishes to manipulate computers at all (and would not gain a +1 bonus on the check).

As a Fault, cyberpsi means the character can only manipulate computers with electrokinesis and he possesses no ability to produce electrical shocks, shortages, or other effects.