Power Modifiers

Power Modifiers

Each power has a power modifier: a limitation or enhancement that turns an advantage into one of the power's abilities. An advantage must have the relevant power modifier in order to be part of the power; there are no exceptions.

An advantage with a power modifier is subject to all the special rules that apply to the power. If the power is subject to a broad set of countermeasures or situational penalties, only works in certain circumstances, or restricts the user's actions, its power modifier is a limitation. If the power's abilities are more flexible than the unmodified traits, its power modifier is an enhancement. The value of the limitation or enhancement depends on just how much the restrictions are tightened or relaxed; see Evaluating Power Modifiers.

Sample Modifiers

Below are examples of power modifiers appropriate to broad categories of powers. They attempt to stay true to the way novels and movies depict those powers. Each lists its individual subcomponents to make it easier to customize and to demonstrate the principles of design. The overall modifier is the sum of these parts – don't apply the component modifiers a second time! Be sure to change the generic names to suit specific powers.

Chi

-10%

Your power emanates from your life force – a mysterious energy often called chi or ki. To strengthen your chi to the point where you can channel it for superhuman feats, you must engage in exercises and meditation for a few hours each day. This requirement is a -10-point disadvantage (-10%), most often Disciplines of Faith (Monasticism or Mysticism) or a comparable major Vow. Should you neglect this, your power fails you the first time you call upon it under stress (+0%). To restore it, you must take 1d days to rebalance your chi (+0%). Until you do, you feel ill; the GM should choose one of these afflictions from Irritating Conditions: Coughing/Sneezing, Drowsy, Nauseated, or Pain.

Cosmic

+50%

Your power originates from the energy of creation! Your abilities ignore the ordinary countermeasures that work against wild advantages, and you always have access to them – nothing can neutralize your power or cut off its energy source. This is identical to the +50% level of the Cosmic enhancement. If you have individual abilities with more expensive versions of Cosmic, your power modifier only covers the first +50% of their value; after that, you must pay for Cosmic normally.

Also see: Cosmic.

Divine

-10%

A deity grants you your power. Nothing can prevent your god's power from reaching you...but your patron expects certain behavior in return. The precise details depend on your god.

A good god expects you to lead a virtuous life. The required moral code is a -10-point disadvantage (-10%), typically Honesty (12), Sense of Duty (Coreligionists), or a major Vow. Should you transgress, your god will suspend your power – but since he's benevolent, he won't cut you off if this would endanger you (+5%), save for the most egregious of sins. To make amends, you must offer significant penance: up to a month of fasting, questing, or equivalent (-5%).

An evil god lets you do as you wish, provided you make suitable sacrifices, corrupt the innocent, etc. These requirements are worth -10 points (-10%), most often in the form of Intolerance or a heinous major Vow such as "Kill someone on the night of the full moon." If you forget, your deity will revoke your power instantly (+0%). It will turn on you in horrible ways until you make amends (-5%). A single killing or desecration will get you back in favor – since you've already sold your soul, this should be easy for you (+5%).

An ineffable force of nature only rarely concerns itself with mortal affairs, leaving you free to act in its name as you see fit. But it has principles – often strange, confusing ones – that constitute a -10-point disadvantage (-10%), perhaps a Code of Honor such as "Respect nature, and violently oppose those who do not" or a complex Trademark that few can understand. It will immediately cut you off for any perceived improbity (+0%). To get back in good standing, you must complete a minor quest (+0%) suggested to you through omens.

Electronic

-30%

The typical version of Technological at TL7-8. The power's abilities require weekly maintenance, at 1 hour per ability (-5%). In addition, they can be detected by X-ray scans and other forms of medical imaging, and may also generate radio static or an odor of ozone (-5%). Finally, they're vulnerable to electrical disruption as defined for the disadvantage Electrical (-20%).

Elemental

-10%

Your power lets you manipulate an "element": one particular kind of natural matter or energy, or its absence. Examples include Air, Cold/Ice, Darkness, Earth, Electricity, Heat/Fire, Light, Radiation, Sound/Vibration, and Water. This power isn't psionic or channeled from an elemental god; powers like that are Psionic or Divine, respectively. Instead, you're cosmically attuned to your element; in effect, you are an elemental spirit.

The GM should choose a mundane countermeasure or insulator that can interfere with your elemental energy. Either way, this is worth -10%. If your element would not logically merit the full -10% for countermeasures or channeled energies, the GM may rule that this limitation is a little of both. It's fairest if every elemental power is more or less equally limited.

Magical

-10%

Your power channels ambient magical energy (mana). This is difficult to block and found almost everywhere. "No-mana zones" – areas where your power doesn’t work at all – occur only rarely in nature. However, low-mana zones are more common, and all rolls to use your abilities are at -5 in such regions. This aspect of the limitation is worth -5%.

In addition, a variety of anti-powers can thwart your abilities. The Mana Damper advantage simulates the effect of a low- or no-mana zone, while Magic Resistance shields others from your attacks. Moreover, spells that dispel or protect against magic affect your abilities exactly as if they were spells. This is worth another -5%. This modifier is identical to the Mana Sensitive limitation.

Mechanical

-10%

The baseline version of Technological. The power's abilities require weekly maintenance, at 1 hour per ability (-5%). In addition, they can be detected by X-ray scans and other forms of medical imaging, and may also trigger metal detectors, smell of oil or exhaust fumes, or get hot enough to show up on infrared (-5%).

Moral

-20%

Your power comes from some cosmic moral principle – Chaos, Evil, Good, Order, etc. – that transcends the mortal and even the divine. This isn't a true cosmic power...it's more like half a cosmic power, because it has an opposing anti-power (-5%): Chaos vs. Order, Evil vs. Good, and so on. This anti-power offers its wielders Neutralize and Static abilities (and perhaps other gifts) that they can use against you. Your power gives you similar weapons, of course.

Your ability to tap this power stems from your dedication to a moral code, to which you must adhere at all times. This is a -15-point disadvantage (-15%), usually Fanaticism – although Honesty (9) or Sense of Duty (Humanity) is just as likely for Good. If you falter, even for a moment, you lose your power instantly (+0%). To get it back requires an extreme demonstration of commitment that costs at least 2d days of lost time or earnings (+0%). Details are up to the GM, who should pick something appropriate to your power; e.g., a large donation to charity, for Good.

This modifier only exists in settings with absolute morality, where moral forces battle openly in the world and are both tangible and detectable.

Mutant

-10%

Essentially a version of Super with the same cost but some differences in flavor. Methods of detecting mutant powers include DNA sequencing, and they may be a specialized subcategory for purposes of both anti-powers and weird-science countermeasures. Mutants may also be targets of bigotry, but this is treated as a separate disadvantage (see Social Stigma).

Nanotech

-15%

An advanced version of Technological available at TL9 and above – or as experimental technology at TL8. The power's abilities require weekly maintenance, at 1 hour per ability (-5%). In addition, they can be countered by nanotech designed by adversaries (-5%). The operation of nanotech is biologically stressful: Pay an extra 1 FP whenever you use an active ability in the same way as for the Biological modifier (-5%). For passive abilities, GMs can charge 1 FP to activate them (making them Switchable if necessary); if he does not to apply this last modifier, reduce the power modifier to -10% for Nanotech; if the last option is taken, reduce the Biological power modifier to -5% in similar cases.

Nature

-20%

Your power channels the vital energy that surrounds all living things. This exists even in the driest deserts and on the most barren peaks, but the ravages of civilization interfere with it, acting as a mundane insulator against your power (-10%). You're at -1 to use your abilities in a despoiled wild place such as a clear-cut forest, -3 in a city, -5 amidst ordinary pollution, and -10 in a poisoned wasteland.

Technology – not technological countermeasures, but any technology – also impairs your power. In effect, it’s a mundane countermeasure (-10%). You're at a penalty equal to half the TL (round up) of the most advanced manufactured item you’re carrying, wearing, or riding in or on. Use the full TL of implants. Thus, a TL3 sword gives -2, while a TL8 pacemaker gives -8.

An ability that requires no die roll loses 10% of its effectiveness (bonus to reactions or skills, DR, etc.) per -1 instead. If the penalties total -10 or worse, you're powerless.

This modifier best suits Animal Control, Plant Control, and Weather Control powers.

Psionic

-10%

Your power is an innate capability of your mind. The energy comes from within, but a large number of countermeasures exist, including anti-powers in the form of Antipsi power (-5%) and technological countermeasures in the form of "psychotronic" or "psi-tech" defenses (-5%).

The Basic Set includes several specific examples of psionic powers: ESP, Psychic Healing, Psychokinesis, Telepathy, and Teleportation.

Savant

-10%

Your powers come from a state of intense concentration, which may be the effect of self-hypnosis, drugs, or biological peculiarities. While you are using them, you are totally focused on your own thoughts and perceptions. This gives you two temporary disadvantages: Oblivious, making it difficult for you to interact with other people (Temporary Disadvantage, -5%), and Incurious (12), making it hard for you to turn your attention to anything novel (Temporary Disadvantage, -5%). This works best with cognitive abilities such as Eidetic Memory or Intuitive Mathematician, but can also be applied to psionic abilities as an additional modifier, or even to body control abilities.

Spirit

-25%

Your power comes through commanding spirits: you give orders and the spirits do the work. Since only those with powers of their own are likely to realize this, it's often hard to distinguish your abilities from chi, psi, etc. But there are some important differences.

Spirits are fickle (-20%), and whether they answer your summons at all depends on an unmodified reaction roll. You can command them, but you must show basic respect. This imposes a -5-point disadvantage (-5%) – typically Disciplines of Faith (Ritualism), Sense of Duty (Servitor Spirits), or a simple Trademark in the form of a small offering or token. If you fail to live up to this, the spirits turn against you, depriving you of your power at the worst possible moment (-5%). Since they ultimately want you to turn them loose on the world, though, it's easy to make amends – a minor sacrifice, such as a food offering, is usually enough (+5%).

The spirits associated with an individual ability might be more or less friendly, giving from -4 to +4 on reaction rolls. If so, that one ability has an extra -5% modifier per -1, or +5% per +1, on top of the basic power modifier that applies to all abilities.

In some settings, spirits aren't this capricious and the GM might dispense with the reaction roll. This reduces Spirit to -5%.

Super

-10%

Your power is a "generic superpower." Details depend on the game world. What's common to all such powers is that they face Neutralize and Static – as wild advantages and as part of various anti-powers (-5%) – and that weird-science devices built by gadgeteers can block them or even steal them (-5%). In effect, this is just a special form of the Psionic limitation. In many settings, the two are one and the same.

Certain super-powers are subject to mundane insulators or countermeasures that limit their ability to affect the world. For instance, being underwater might be as effective as Static or a power-suppressing serum for negating a fire-related power. If your power is like this, you may give it both the Super and Elemental modifiers. This is an exception to the restriction against "stacking" power modifiers.

Superscience

-10%

This is effectively the same as Super for equipment that the GM rules eligible for a power modifier.

Stacking Power Modifiers

A power modifier works like any other limitation or enhancement. It obeys all the usual rules for modifiers. It applies to all of the power's abilities (but not to its Talent, required disadvantages, or Unusual Background, if any).

If an ability has other modifiers, add the power modifier to them normally. For example, an advantage with +150% in enhancements and -50% in limitations would cost +100% – but as the ability of a power with a -10% power modifier, its final modifier would be +90%. Power modifiers aren't exempt from the rule that modifiers can't reduce cost by more than 80%. If the total modifier on a given ability, including the power modifier, is worse than -80%, treat it as -80%.

No advantage can have multiple power modifiers. (Exception: A power can be both Elemental and Super.) It's legal to have multiple powers, but their modifiers never apply simultaneously. When someone takes an ability that several of his powers have in common, he must decide which power it comes from and apply the modifier for that power only. If he wants the ability for more than one power, he can buy multiple copies – see Uniqueness.

The discount pricing schemes under Uniqueness and Alternative Abilities use the final, modified costs of the traits involved. Add all modifiers, including power modifiers, to all relevant abilities, and then apply any special discount.

Zero-Cost Modifiers

A power modifier can be +0%. This means that, on average, the power's abilities are neither better nor worse than wild advantages. It doesn't mean that they are identical to wild advantages.

A power might end up with a +0% modifier because its benefits and drawbacks cancel out. Whether this is by design or coincidence, it's important to spell out the effects to keep players from assuming that zero cost implies zero effect. For instance, Things Man Was Not Meant To Know might grant cultists an unstoppable power (Cosmic, +50%), but they might be fickle (-20%) and demand extremely strict behavior (-25% for required disadvantages) – and using the power might have unpleasant consequences (Nuisance Effect, -5%). The total modifier is +0%, but certainly not irrelevant!

The rules for countermeasures, required disadvantages, and channeled energies can also result in a +0% modifier. A power might face countermeasures different from but no more common than those that affect wild advantages...or require minor upkeep that the user can safely put off for a day . . . or channel energy that isn't prone to interference. All of these things are worth +0%, but you should still note them, because they can matter in play.

Finally, the GM can add a +0% modifier as a "special effect," possibly for the sole purpose of marking the power's abilities as part of the power. Even then, the modifier isn't irrelevant. If nothing else, it determines which advantages benefit from the power's Talent and what traits those who have the power can add later on (see Adding and Improving Powers). It might even make the power mutually exclusive with some other power.

Evaluating Power Modifiers

After determining which advantages best suit the power, it's time to work out the modifier that makes those traits part of the power. This enhancement or limitation is the power modifier.

The power modifier converts any advantage that has it into one of the power's abilities. If that's all it does – if it implies no additional restrictions or capabilities – it's worth +0%. This is comparable to the situation for advantages that don't belong to a power: the source is background color, a "special effect," and doesn't affect game play. The buyer pays the listed cost for the advantage and gets its benefits as written.

But a power's source or focus often suggests restrictions. Most powers let the user channel some kind of energy, and energy can run out...or be choked off at the source. If the power is supernatural, the wellspring might be willful – an entity that demands propitiation or attaches conditions to the gifts it bestows. Super-powers frequently have dramatic "fatal flaws." And all but the mightiest powers can meet their match in the form of manmade countermeasures or diametrically opposed powers. Any of these things would make the power modifier a limitation.

More rarely, the opposite is true, and the power increases the scope of advantages tied to it by letting them ignore built-in limitations or making them useful in situations where they normally wouldn't be. If so, the power modifier is an enhancement.

In all cases, the final value of the power modifier is found by adding up the individual limitations and enhancements it encompasses.

Countermeasures

A countermeasure is anything that blocks or negates an advantage or its effects. Even "wild" advantages (those not associated with powers) face countermeasures. For instance, Terror is worthless against those with the Unfazeable advantage, and someone with Night Vision can be blindfolded. But when a countermeasure that doesn't affect the wild version of an advantage does affect the version a power provides, that's a limitation. The size of the limitation depends on the nature of the countermeasure and how likely it is to appear during an adventure.

Mundane Countermeasures

If the power loses much of its utility – or just doesn't work – in a reasonably common environment likely to occur in nature, and enemies could exploit this weakness using only everyday items and knowledge (not just specialized technology or training, or other powers), add -10% to the power modifier. Individual abilities can't claim a further discount for an overlapping limitation such as Accessibility, Environmental, or Terminal Condition, however.

Example 1: Because fire requires oxygen, the GM may rule that no ability of the Heat/Fire power works without it. For instance, if the user is underwater or in a vacuum, he can't use his jet-like Flight, "ignite" his Body of Fire, or launch fiery Innate Attacks. Even if oxygen is present, his enemies might be able to extinguish his Body of Fire and blunt his attacks using water, sand, or a fire extinguisher. This gives a -10% limitation – and rules out Accessibility limitations such as "Not underwater" and "Not in a vacuum" on specific abilities.

Example 2: Sound/Vibration power requires the user to have a direct path through air, water, or another fluid to anything he wishes to affect. His Innate Attacks don't work in a vacuum, his Rapier Wit and Terror rely on subtle vibrations that radio can't transmit, and so on. In a soundproof room, his abilities would stop at the walls. These drawbacks add -10% to the power modifier – and individual abilities can't also claim "Only with a direct fluid path" as an Accessibility limitation.

As the examples suggest, this modifier suits elemental powers best. The GM may allow it for other powers. Neither an "environment likely to occur in nature" nor "everyday items and knowledge" is likely to affect a supernatural power...but "the will of a true king," "true love," or something similar just might. If the GM doesn’t mind powers being contingent on intangibles, he's welcome to permit such things as mundane countermeasures.

Anti-Powers

If the setting includes natural or artificial countermeasures expressly intended to knock out the power – perhaps even all powers of the same source – that's a limitation. The size of the limitation depends on how extensive the countermeasures are:

• If the countermeasures are specific capabilities found only in the hands of those with unusual advantages (notably Neutralize and Static) or skills (including cinematic skills and magic spells), add -5% to the power modifier. For instance, the Dispel Magic spell and Mana Damper advantage can knock out magical powers, so magical powers can claim this -5%.
• If the countermeasures consist of specialized technology that works for anyone who possesses it (jamming fields, shield helmets, drugs that shut down the power or grant immunity to it, etc.), add -5% to the power modifier. For example, if particular drugs and frequencies of sound disrupt the biofeedback needed to make a body-control power work, the power gets this -5%.
• If both situations apply, add -10% to the power modifier. This is the case for psionic powers, which are blocked by Antipsi power and by shield helmets, dampers, etc. This is also true for "generic superpowers" (see Super, below), which are traditionally subject to Neutralize, Static, and a plethora of weird-science gadgets.

These limitations are cumulative with the -10% for mundane countermeasures.

Opposed Powers

Some powers "oppose" others; e.g., Heat/Fire vs. Cold/Ice, Good vs. Evil, or Antipsi vs. any psi power. A power might be able to claim an opposed power as a countermeasure. The effects, if any, on power modifiers depend on how the two powers interact.

If it takes a specific, active use of one power to cancel out each specific, active use of another, neither power qualifies as an anti-power, and their power modifiers are unchanged. Consider Heat/Fire vs. Cold/Ice: the environmental effects of their respective abilities often cancel each other out, and fire and ice attacks might be able to shoot each other down (see Defending with Powers), but neither power can completely prevent the other from working.

If a power is subject to mundane countermeasures that another power just happens to emulate, it gets only the -10% under Mundane Countermeasures. There's no additional discount for the existence of a power that can exploit its flaws. For example, Heat/Fire power receives -10% because vacuum, water, and cold can negate it. It gets no extra bonus if Vacuum, Water, and Cold/Ice powers exist. Next to the world's oceans, the boundless vacuum of space, and so on, a few people with powers is insignificant.

An opposed power normally only counts as an anti-power if it contains Neutralize and Static abilities that can negate all of the other power's abilities at once. In this situation, the affected power can claim the -5% described under Anti-Powers. The number of anti-powers is irrelevant – the limitation is a flat -5%, not -5% per anti-power. The GM may rule that other powers rate as anti-powers. Two possibilities are powers that offer Afflictions with Negated Advantage enhancements intended to cancel another power's Talent or abilities, and those that include Obscure for the express purpose of blinding a power that focuses primarily on enhanced senses. A power should never receive the -5% discount unless another power specifically targets it, though.

Bear in mind that a power can negate another power without being negated by it. For example, Antipsi interferes with Telepathy, but Telepathy doesn't foil Antipsi – indeed, no power can block [[Antipsi! On the other hand, fiction is full of powers that are mutual anti-powers (e.g., Good and Evil), in which case both powers have a -5% limitation.

No Countermeasures

Powers that face no countermeasures except those that affect the wild versions of their abilities add +0% to their power modifier. This is the "default" situation; it applies to any power that can't claim a limitation under Mundane Countermeasures or Anti-Powers.

Example 1: It's traditionally impossible to neutralize chi powers. Two such warriors can use their powers to block one another – and in most tales, the stronger fighter eventually exhausts the weaker. However, neither warrior can deprive the other of all of his abilities in an instant...and few legends suggest that mundane or technological factors can render such powers useless. Thus, chi powers get +0%.

Example 2: In myths where gods bestow powers upon their servants, no mortal can rob the blessed of their powers. Divine powers therefore have +0%.

The fact that a power faces no unusual countermeasures doesn't mean that its abilities can bypass things that would normally negate them. For example, if Invisibility belongs to a power that gets +0% for countermeasures, the power has no special flaws that people without See Invisible can exploit to see the user. This doesn't render Invisibility immune to its usual countermeasures, though – it's still useless against those with See Invisible, because that's a weakness built into the advantage.

A few powers – such as those of deities and godlike supers – do offer abilities that aren't subject to the countermeasures that affect wild advantages. For powers like this, the "countermeasures" aspect of the power modifier is actually an enhancement. This is the equivalent of the Cosmic enhancement; therefore, we refer to such powers as "cosmic powers."

Cosmic powers add +50% to their power modifier. This lets their abilities ignore the things that normally block, shut down, or nullify wild versions of those traits, unless those countermeasures are themselves cosmic; e.g., only a cosmic barrier can block cosmic Insubstantiality and only cosmic vision can penetrate cosmic Invisibility. Furthermore, nothing can take away the wielder's power – his abilities work on any world he visits, are present in any body he occupies, and so on.

This power modifier counts as the first +50% of all Cosmic enhancements added to the power's individual abilities. For instance, if the ability includes an irresistible attack, it costs +250% over and above the +50% in the power modifier, for a total of +300%.

The basic +50% for a cosmic power enables the power's abilities to work ormally against attacks and opposing abilities enhanced with more expensive Cosmic options.

Required Disadvantages

Some powers stem from dedicated exercise, meditation, prayer, etc. The devotee walks a path that limits his freedom or puts significant demands on his time. In return, he enjoys special abilities. Should he deviate from his chosen path, he loses his power until he takes suitable steps to set things right. This might be merely inconvenient...or downright dangerous.

Anyone who wishes to possess a power like this must take certain self-imposed mental disadvantages to reflect his dedication. The GM determines these traits – not the buyer. They are prerequisites for all of the power's abilities, and also for its Talent.

The most common "required disadvantages" are Disciplines of Faith and Vows – but Code of Honor, Fanaticism, Honesty, Intolerance, Sense of Duty, and Trademark are also appropriate. In general, required disadvantages should total between -5 and -15 points. See Suggested Disadvantages (below) for guidelines. Required disadvantages give the usual number of points. This reflects their effects on the taker's day-to-day life – he must live up to the standards they demand. If he fails, he suffers whatever mundane effects the GM feels are appropriate: loss of standing in his religion or community, psychological breakdown, or just fewer bonus character points.

Since the power-wielder also loses his power if he falters, he has further to fall than an equally dedicated individual who lacks powers. This gives him a discount on the cost of his abilities. See Required Behavior and Power Modifier to work this out.

Suggested Disadvantages

Some powers require just one self-imposed mental disadvantage; others prescribe behavior complex enough to justify several. Below are suggestions that suit particular sources and foci. All have variable point costs. The more severe the disadvantage, the harsher the ultimate limitation will be.

Code of Honor, Honesty, and Sense of Duty

These disadvantages are appropriate for powers that emanate from gods or spirits that actively monitor their servants' moral conduct – that is, divine and spirit powers. The most likely result of a holy man failing to uphold his deity's moral code is the immediate and total loss of power. To recover his abilities, he must atone. This might include a time-consuming cleansing ritual, a sacrifice, or an ordeal (possibly involving privation or scarification).

-5 points: A Code of Honor or Sense of Duty that applies to a small group, such as "all shamans," would suit certain spirit powers and the divine powers of lenient deities. A "good" deity of this kind might instead require Honesty (15).

-10 points: A Code of Honor or Sense of Duty that affects a large group, such as every member of a religion, is appropriate for most divine powers. Honesty (12) is equivalent – again, mainly for "good" deities.

-15 points: Honesty (9), or a Code of Honor or Sense of Duty that applies to everyone, is only really suitable for those who wield the power of pure Good, or the divine powers of the most benevolent (or just) deities.

Disciplines of Faith and Vows

Disciplines of Faith and Vows often indicate a personal commitment to a program of diet, physical exercise, and meditation. This is the traditional origin of chi powers: the master balances yin and yang in every aspect of his life, and contemplates the nature of the universe. His efforts provide the physical and mental discipline that fuels his power. But should he neglect his exercises and meditation, his abilities will fail under stress! To recover them, he must spend time in contemplative isolation, or undertake a quest for "re-enlightenment."

These disadvantages can also be religious in character, and suitable for divine and spirit powers. In this case, use the point-cost guidelines under Code of Honor, Honesty, and Sense of Duty (above).

-5 points: Disciplines of Faith (Ritualism) is suitable for spirit powers. A minor Vow, such as chastity, fits almost any supernatural power, whether it comes from within or without.

-10 points: Disciplines of Faith (Monasticism) and (Mysticism) suit both chi and divine powers. Major Vows (e.g., "Never draw blood in battle.") also come in at this point level, and suit many divine powers.

-15 points: Disciplines of Faith (Asceticism) or a great Vow (e.g., "Only fight in self-defense.") would only be appropriate for divine powers granted by exacting deities – or for chi powers that demand complete, lifelong dedication.

Fanaticism and Intolerance

A few powers spring from the wielder's unswerving dedication to a set of beliefs rather than from his purity or enlightenment. This is typical of powers that focus on fundamental moral principles, such as Good and Evil, and of divine and spiritual powers given – often grudgingly – by amoral gods, primeval spirits, and Things Man Was Not Meant To Know. In fiction, such powers are nearly always frightening, whatever their moral bent.

Fanaticism demands unquestioning loyalty. If the fanatic refuses one order, makes any concession that might weaken his cause...he's cut off, and his abilities might even turn against him! Intolerance requires an active effort to convert, enslave, or destroy the target group. Any gesture of clemency leads to immediate power loss. In both instances, the nature of the needed reparations mirrors the harsh character of the disadvantage, with sudden injury or affliction being likely.

-5 points: Intolerance of one particular group – possibly fairly abstract (e.g., "Evil") – is suitable for many of the divine powers and pure moral powers of fantasy, which often rely on their opposition to some other force for definition.

-10 points: Intolerance of everyone who doesn't worship the same god is appropriate for almost any divine power. Fantasy tends to reserve this for evil deities; good deities are more likely to demand -10-point Honesty or Sense of Duty.

-15 points: Like other -15-point traits, Fanaticism only suits divine powers bestowed by demanding, judgmental deities. It's also a perfect fit for the powers of pure Good and Evil in settings where compromise is impossible.

Trademark

Trademark is the least common required disadvantage. It works just like the rest of these traits, but with a twist: the user must leave a physical sign of his work wherever he uses his abilities. Otherwise, his power fails him the next time he calls upon it. The only way to rectify the oversight is to return to the neglected site and mark it appropriately – which might prove difficult if it's a bloody urban battlefield crawling with detectives, or an enemy stronghold. This is most suitable for spirit powers.

-5 points: A simple Trademark might be a single rune or holy symbol, left behind by the user of a divine or spirit power to honor the entity he serves.

-10 points: A complex Trademark resembles a simple one, but the mystic marks are more elaborate and time-consuming, and might offer clues as to the ritualist's identity (his totem, tribal mark, etc.).

-15 points: An elaborate Trademark means the sorcerer must conduct a cleansing ritual after using his power in order to dissipate dangerous spiritual residues that could rebound upon him. He might leave behind fetishes, animal sacrifices, or his own blood.

Required Behavior and Power Modifier

If a power requires disadvantages, any violation of the behavior code that those traits imply costs the user all of his abilities. The limitation value depends on how taxing the code is, how rapidly the power departs after a transgression, and how difficult the power is to recover. The GM should calculate the effects of these factors on the power modifier using the following guidelines:

1. Choose the required disadvantages, normally worth between -5 and -15 points, and apply a limitation numerically equivalent to the point value of those disadvantages. For instance, a -10-point Vow is worth -10%. This part of the modifier is identical to the Pact limitation; you can't take that a second time.

2. Decide on the speed with which the power vanishes (choose one):

• Gradually, with enough warning to escape a dangerous situation: +5%.
• Quickly enough to endanger the user in combat: +0%.

Add -5% if the power doesn't just vanish but turns against the user!

3. Determine the act necessary to restore the power (choose one):

• A day out of adventuring to pray, meditate, etc., or sacrifices worth a day's income: +5%.
• A week out of adventuring, or sacrifices worth a week's income; a minor quest; or minor harm (1d injury or an irritating affliction): +0%.
• A month out of adventuring, or sacrifices worth a month's income; a major quest; or serious harm (4d injury, crippling, or an incapacitating affliction): -5%.

4. Add all of the above together to find the final adjustment to the power modifier. If positive, reduce it to +0%. If a power requires minimal devotion, only departs gradually if the user neglects this, and returns if he takes a day to set things right, it isn't limited (the wielder can use it in the current situation and make amends before the next time he needs it) – but it isn't more useful than a power without this modifier.

It's possible to get large limitations – up to -25% – using these guidelines. The GM may allow such modifiers, but they're only appropriate for powers granted by a merciless god who would strike down his own servant for the slightest impure thought. The GM must enforce this ...and the players have no room to complain, because they're getting a big discount on a wide array of useful advantages.

Channeled Energies

Every power involves directing some kind of energy. "Channeled energy" is energy that originates from a source outside the user. If an external influence can cut this off in transit, that's usually a limitation – for obvious reasons! To understand which powers qualify for this discount, though, it's necessary to know which ones don't.

Powers that originate from bioenergy, personal charisma, the mind, or the soul don't qualify, because the energies involved are internal. This definitely includes all chi and psi powers. The only external factor likely to interfere with a power like this is an anti-power (see Anti-Powers). That's a different limitation, because it doesn't cut the target off from his power source – it just keeps him from directing it.

Divine powers don't qualify, either. A holy man does channel the will of his patron deity, but the only force that can intercept divine might in transit is another deity. Since a god has cosmic powers that can interfere with a lesser being's capabilities in any case, this weakness isn't a particular limitation of divine powers. A deity might cut off the powers of an unfaithful servant – but again, that's a separate limitation (see Required Disadvantages).

Powers that only work in a particular environment also don't qualify. Heat/Fire power might not work without oxygen, Sound/Vibration power might fail without a medium to transmit it, and so forth, but such restrictions don't cut the user off from his power source – they limit his ability to project his power. See Mundane Countermeasures for the appropriate limitation.

This leaves two broad categories of powers that do qualify for this limitation.

Ambient Energies

A power might let its user shape and direct energy already present in the environment. In the absence of this energy, it doesn't work. The effect on the power modifier depends on how likely the user is to be cut off from his power source:

• If the power commands a form of energy that suffuses the entire universe, and that can't be screened out or drained by any means, add +0% to the power modifier. This is the case for cosmic powers that channel the energy of existence – the absence of which implies nonexistence, which makes power failure irrelevant.
• If the power directs energy that surrounds and permeates all things, and that only esoteric insulators or supernatural intervention or catastrophe can cut off, add -5% to the power modifier. A power that relies on the life force emanating from all living things or the psychic energy field set up by the minds of all sapient beings qualifies; so does a Gravity power that manipulates ambient gravity. This -5% also applies to powers that work at a penalty, or not at all, in certain places; e.g., magical powers, which rely on the areas ambient magical energy, or mana. A power that gets bonuses for location about as often as it gets penalties doesn't qualify – that's worth +0% (see Zero-Cost Modifiers).
• If the power manipulates ordinary, natural energy that mundane insulators can block, add -10% to the power modifier. This might be true for certain elemental powers, such as a Light power that lets the user shape ambient light or a Radiation power that concentrates and directs cosmic rays.

Fiction often fails to distinguish these things from countermeasures. Anything that could be an esoteric insulator or a technological countermeasure gives -5%; anything that could be a mundane insulator or a mundane countermeasure is worth -10%. A power can only claim one limitation per shortcoming – the GM decides which.

Fickle Forces

A few powers channel willful energies. The user petitions some kind of intermediary to invoke his power. The game effect is that he must make a reaction roll whenever he wishes to use one of his abilities. Normal reaction modifiers don't affect this roll; neither does Talent. The GM may apply situational modifiers, of course. Such powers have the Fickle limitation, which adds -20% to the power modifier. Fickle is intended chiefly for spirit powers, and is most suitable for powers that command capricious spirits: demons, faerie, loas, etc. Powers granted by angels, genii, totems, and the like tend to have required disadvantages instead. Of course, a given spirit power could have both limitations!

The GM is free to allow Fickle on any power. It fits many visions of magical powers – even those that don't involve spirits. However, it's rarely suitable for divine powers, save perhaps those granted by tricksters. Required disadvantages are much less random, and better suit the decisive nature of most deities.

Quick Reference: Power Modifiers

When calculating power modifiers, it's useful to have all the numbers in one place. Unless indicated otherwise, all modifiers are cumulative. Channeled Energies

Ambient energies blocked by (choose one)*:

Esoteric or supernatural item/condition: -5%

Mundane item/condition: -10%

Fickle: -20%

Cosmic Power: +50%*

Countermeasures*

Mundane countermeasures: -10%

Special advantages or skills: -5%

Technological countermeasures: -5%

Required Disadvantages

Code of conduct: Point value of required disadvantages, expressed as a percentage.

Power disappears (choose one):

Gradually: +5%

Immediately: +0%

Power turns against user: -5%

Restoration requires (choose one):

A day: +5%

A week, a minor quest, or minor harm: +0%

A month, a major quest, or serious harm: -5%

* Cosmic powers can neither be blocked nor have countermeasures.

Other Factors

The possibilities discussed so far are merely the most common components of power modifiers. The GM is free to add an enhancement if the power is hard to counteract, or if its abilities are otherwise better than wild advantages. Conversely, he might assess a limitation if the power isn't always available, or if its abilities are somehow less useful than normal.

Discretionary modifiers must be balanced with respect to standard ones. A good way to ensure this is to base them on the general modifiers in Chapter 2 and the Basic Set. If all of a power's abilities have an ordinary enhancement or limitation, make this part of the power modifier. Doing so has the additional benefit of making the power modifier "shorthand" for a long list of modifiers. A few examples:

• Accessibility: Most GM-defined limitations fall into this category, and affect when or where the power works. Try to keep the value between -10% and -30%. Limitations that restrict the power to certain targets are only appropriate if all of the power’s abili- ties affect others.
• Costs Fatigue: This is one way to balance powers against cinematic skills and spells that cost FP. It adds -5% per FP per use – but note that continuing effects follow special rules. If the FP must come from an Energy Reserve, rendering the power ineffective when the ER is empty, add a further -5%.
• Nuisance Effect: A power's abilities might have negative side effects. Be creative! For instance, using each ability might trigger a distinct, loud tone, interfering with stealth and social interaction, and letting the hero's enemies know what he's up to. Most Nuisance Effects are worth -5%.

Finalizing the Modifier

After calculating individual modifiers for countermeasures (or no countermeasures), required disadvantages, channeled energies, and anything else you wish to consider, add them together to find the final power modifier. There are no firm limits on this, but there are practical reasons to keep limitations between -10% and -20%.

A -5% limitation simply isn't meaningful on an advantage worth less than 20 points – point costs round up, so 5% off a cost under 20 points means paying full price. Since few players will suffer the restrictions of a limitation without receiving a discount, a -5% limitation encourages players to ignore appropriate and interesting low-cost traits. By contrast, a -10% limitation is meaningful for advantages worth as little as 10 points, and a -20% limitation is significant for traits down to 5 points.

And of course since players are frugal with points, the more substantial the discount, the more likely the limitation – and hence the power – is to see use. If you end up with a -5% limitation, consider going back and finding another -5% or more.

If you want a trivial limitation, dispense with formal limitations and make the power modifier +0%. That way, the power's abilities are no less useful than wild advantages worth the same number of points, and the players won't be faced with a restriction that doesn't give a fair discount. For more on this option, see Zero-Cost Modifiers.

Power modifiers much beyond -20% also have problems. Many special limitations are worth -50% or -60%...but since a net limitation more severe than -80% becomes -80%, players may avoid these interesting options if the power modifier is large. In fact, suffering the restrictions of -85% or more in limitations in return for an 80% discount is the kind of rotten deal that can steer players away from the power. Some will compensate by adding heaps of inappropriate enhancements to balance the limitations, which can ruin character concepts.

In addition, when a severe limitation is rigidly enforced, it tends to limit an advantage so much that it's no longer fun. When it isn't enforced, some PCs get a free lunch, which can unbalance the game. Either outcome is bad – but it's especially damaging in the case of powers, as the effects extend across many advantages.

In general, if a power modifier is a limitation more severe than -20%, consider paring it down to -20% by removing elements that aren't truly necessary to convey the "feel" of the power.

Giving It a Name

Give each power modifier a unique name. Make this descriptive, so that it's clear which power it represents: Animal Control, ESP, Good, Light, Magical, Power of Thor, Psychic Healing, Psychokinesis, Telepathy, etc.