Create

Create

Variable

You can create an "element" – a specific category of matter or energy – out of nothing. To do so, take a Concentrate maneuver and roll vs. IQ. Success means your element appears. A solid or liquid coalesces in hand or within arm's reach, while gas or energy appears in the area surrounding you or in an area you're touching (your choice in both cases). Failure means nothing happens. Critical failure means your element appears, but in a way that's inconvenient or dangerous – the GM should be creative! Creating something out of nothing is hard. Each attempt, successful or not, requires 2 FP. There's also a character point cost for permanent creation (see below).

Your level of Create determines how much of your element you can conjure. Point cost per level is a function of the breadth of your ability, not the rarity of your element:

Large Category: Solid, Liquid, and Gas let you create any matter that's naturally in that state in your present environment. Organic and Inorganic let you create any material of the appropriate category, in the state it normally takes in your environment. Important options for energy are Electromagnetic Waves (all EM radiation) and Physical Waves (all sound and vibration). 40 points/level.

Medium Category: A broad subset of a single Large category, or the area of overlap between two Large categories, or a specific class of manufactured substances. Acid, Biochemicals, Drugs, Earth, and Metal qualify. Options for energy include Electricity, Sound, Long-Wave EM (radio, microwaves, and far IR), Light (IR, visible, and UV), and Short-Wave EM (far UV, X-rays, and gamma rays). A dramatically important category that includes aspects of matter and energy is Radiation (alpha and beta particles, gamma rays, etc.). 20 points/level.

Small Category: A narrow subset of a Large category, or a broad subset of a Medium category, or one fairly pecific material that comes in many varieties. Useful examples include Ferrous Metals (iron, nickel, and cobalt), Fire (any incandescent gas), Fossil Fuels (coal, natural gas, oil, etc.), and Wood – and, for energy, things like Gamma Rays, Infrared, Ultrasonics, and Visible Light. 10 points/level.

Specific Item: A single chemical element or compound, such as Iron, Salt, or Water, or a commonly occurring mixture, such as Air or Brine. You can choose nasty materials such as Plutonium, TNT, and VX Gas, but you won't necessarily be able to create a useful amount. 5 points/level.

Limits on Quantity

There are strict limits on the amount of matter or energy you can create:

• Solids and liquids can weigh up to 10 × (level squared) lbs. – 10 lbs. at level 1, 40 lbs. at level 2, 90 lbs. at level 3, and so on.
• Gases can fill an area up to one yard in radius per level.
• Energy appears in a quantity sufficient to do 1,000 × (level squared) kJ of useful work, released too gradually to inflict damage. The GM should limit power output to 15 kW or so. To store this energy, you need a battery or equivalent technology.

Created matter (but not energy) is unstable. It vanishes in 10 seconds unless you use character points to "stabilize" it. Each point spent stabilizes a quantity worth 10% of the campaign's average starting wealth. (This is just the tradeoff used for Trading Points for Money) The GM determines the cash value per pound of matter – a ton of gold costs more to stabilize than a ton of sand.

Points spent to stabilize matter come from your "Creation Pool," a number of points set aside for the purpose. You can't apply any modifiers to these points. Points used to stabilize matter are unavailable until reclaimed – which causes the matter to vanish. If the matter is crafted into an object, the item is unmade when the matter vanishes. If the matter is mixed with other materials (e.g., alloyed), you must separate it to reclaim your points; this can be a tedious process. If it's destroyed or transformed (e.g., eaten), you can't reclaim your points – they’re gone. You can increase your Creation Pool with unspent points at any time.

If economics are unimportant to the campaign, the GM is free to waive point costs for permanent matter. Alternatively, he can require those with Create to start with Wealth or Independent Income – or a Vow never to use Create to produce wealth.

If your ability lets you create a dangerous element, you can opt to create a minuscule amount in combat without worrying about long-term stability. It just produces its effects and vanishes, like matter or energy projected by an Innate Attack. The following effects are possible, provided your element includes suitable materials:

• Corrosive solids and liquids appear in quantity and concentration sufficient to inflict 1d corrosion damage per level, once, on a single subject. You must immerse a victim in the substance or throw it at him to do damage.
• Poisonous solids and liquids appear in a dosage sufficient to inflict 1d toxic damage per level on one subject. Method of delivery, delay, resistance rolls, cycles, and so on are as usual for the poison (see Poison Examples). Damage is total damage, over all cycles.
• Noxious gases fill a circular area with a radius in yards equal to your level, to a height of four yards, for 10 seconds. They affect everyone exposed. Use the rules for noxious solids and liquids (poisonous or corrosive, as appropriate), but total damage is 1 point per level. Convert 4 points or more of damage to dice.
• Fire and hazardous energy (electricity, microwaves, intense sound, etc.) fill an area identical to that for a noxious gas, and inflict 1 point of damage of a suitable type per level each second on anyone who stays in the area for at least a second. Convert 4+ points of damage to dice. DR protects normally. Energy dissipates after 10 seconds, but fires it sets burn for as long as they have fuel, devices it overloads remain broken, and so on – these effects don't vanish with the energy.
• Radioactive materials work as poisonous ones. Radiation fields use the rules for hazardous energy. All "damage" is in rads.
• Explosives appear in quantity sufficient to cause a blast that inflicts 1 point of crushing damage per level, and vanish if not detonated within 10 seconds.

If the element would cause an effect other than damage – blindness for bright light, deafness for loud sound, etc. – treat it like an Affliction instead. The HT roll to resist is at -1 per level of Create for a single subject, -1 per three full levels for an area.

Energy or matter created as an attack is by definition of a quantity and potency that produces the above effects and then vanishes. Such rapid dispersal is totally unrealistic for substances lethal in microscopic doses...but no less realistic than the ability to conjure your element in the first place.

Other Restrictions

Create lets you conjure anything in your category. This may give access to several of the options above; e.g., Create (Electricity) could charge a battery or fill an area with lightning, while Create (Organic) could produce corrosives, poisons, or explosives. You must specify exactly what you're creating, and for what purpose, before you roll the dice. If you don't, the GM decides what happens...

If it isn't clear which limit applies – or if more than one limit could apply – the GM selects the one that best suits your intentions and the demands of drama.

Create produces bulk matter, not specific shapes, much less machines. To create pre-shaped matter, buy both Create and Control, and connect them with a Link. Such a combination can create machines; this is a long task that requires skill rolls, as explained for Control.

The GM can bend these rules as needed – but be warned that ignoring Limits on Quantity can unbalance a campaign.

Special Enhancements

To conjure "essential" elements like those created by the Essential Fire and Essential Water spells in GURPS Magic, add Cosmic, +50%. Ranged (+40%) lets Create work at a distance, but never inside a foe. The GM might even permit attack enhancements for elements useful in combat. Area Effect and Extended Duration are off limits, however. To blanket a wider area, buy more levels of Create. To keep matter around indefinitely, use your Creation Pool. Additional enhancements include:

Destruction: You can destroy your element, subject to the same restrictions on type and quantity described for creation under Limits on Quantity. To destroy something, you must touch it (or stand amidst it, for gas or energy), take a Concentrate maneuver, and pay 2 FP. Then make an IQ roll. Success means the target is gone. You don’t have to spend character points to do this. Destruction only affects inanimate objects. +100% if you can also create your element; +0% if you can only destroy it.

Transmutation: You can convert existing matter or energy into another form. The quantities involved depend on your level. Work out the limits as usual for the initial and final items, and use the smaller of the two. If the product is worth more than what you started with, it's unstable and will revert to its original form after 10 seconds unless you stabilize it with your Creation Pool – in which case point cost depends on the difference in value. This might be why alchemists can't transmute large amounts of lead into gold! Transmutation costs 1 FP per use. Otherwise, it works like unmodified Create. +50% per transmutation, which can be within your category or between your category and another of the same size, in one direction. For instance, Create (Metal) could have Metal to Metal, Metal to Earth, or Earth to Metal for +50% apiece; any two for +100%; or all three for +150%. Add -100% if you can only transmute, not create; if so, you can't also take Destruction.

Alternatives

Those who just want an elemental attack are better off with Innate Attack. To conjure complex objects (e.g., machines), take Snatcher with the Creation enhancement; to create images, use Illusion. If you can create your element with enough precision to replicate all of these abilities and more, consider Modular Abilities instead.

Several magic spells work a lot like Create, including Create Air, Create Earth, Create Fire, and Create Water. GURPS Magic offers many other options.

Powering Up

Create is a standard part of elemental powers. There are many possible matches. For instance, Create (Gas) and Create (Air) both suit Air power...and with Destruction at the +0% level, either might suit a Vacuum power, too.

Divine and spirit powers associated with entities that govern elements are also likely to offer Create. Gods themselves frequently have access to many forms of Create as part of their cosmic powers. Powerful wizards might even obtain Create through magical powers.

Talent adds to all IQ rolls to use Create.