Warp
Warp
100 points
You have the ability to teleport, traveling from point to point without moving through the intervening space. To do so, you must be able to see your destination with your own eyes, or view it remotely (via closed-circuit TV, someone else's eyes using Mind Reading with the Sensory enhancement, etc.), or visualize it clearly (which is only possible if you have visited it previously in person).
You can carry up to Basic Lift when you travel, plus any Payload. To carry more, or to bring along other people, take the Extra Carrying Capacity enhancement (below).
Make an IQ roll to activate your ability, modified as follows:
Distance: Distance penalties appear on the table below. If actual distance falls between two values, use the higher.
| Distance | Penalty |
|---|---|
| 10 yards | 0 |
| 20 yards | -1 |
| 100 yards | -2 |
| 500 yards | -3 |
| 2 miles | -4 |
| 10 miles | -5 |
| 100 miles | -6 |
| 1,000 miles | -7 |
Add an additional -1 for each 10× increase in distance.
Preparation Time: The amount of time taken to prepare for the teleport affects the IQ roll, as follows:
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This table is not open-ended; +10 is the maximum possible bonus.
Removal: If you have a "second-hand" view of the destination, you are at -2 per level of removal. For instance, seeing it on TV or through someone else’s eyes would give -2, while seeing it on a television set that you are viewing through someone else's eyes would give -4. There is an additional -2 to teleport to a place you have visited but cannot see.
Fatigue Points: Apply a bonus of +1 per FP spent. You must declare this before you roll, and you lose the FP whether you succeed or fail. You never have to spend FP, but it is usually a good idea if you must travel far or without much preparation.
On a success, you appear at your target destination. On a failure, you go nowhere and strain your power: you are at -5 to use it again in the next 10 minutes. On a critical failure, you arrive at the wrong destination. This can be anywhere the GM wishes! It need not be dangerous, but it should seriously inconvenience you. In addition, your power temporarily "burns out" and will not function again for 1d hours.
You can use Warp to evade attacks in combat. Once per turn, you may teleport to any location you can see within 10 yards, instantly. This is considered a dodge. Of course, the IQ roll will be at -10 for instant use, so you might want to spend FP to improve your odds!
You can improve this ability with practice, spending points to add enhancements or remove limitations. You cannot take Reduced Fatigue Cost or Reduced Time; instead, take Reliable (below) so that you will need less time or fewer FP to teleport reliably.
Special Enhancements
Blind:
You can teleport to a specific set of coordinates (distance and direction) without seeing or having visited the destination. This gives you an extra -5 to your IQ roll! You must pay two FP per +1 bonus when using this enhancement. +50%.
Extra Carrying Capacity:
You can carry more than your Basic Lift. If your carrying capacity is high enough, you may transport one person with you. Light encumbrance is +10%; Medium, +20%; Heavy, +30%; Extra-Heavy, +50%.
Reliable:
Your power is stable and predictable. Each level of this enhancement gives +1 to the IQ roll to use this ability, allowing you to teleport with little preparation (e.g., in combat) or over long distances without spending as many FP to improve your odds. +5% per +1, to a maximum of +10.
Warp Jump:
This enhancement is only available if you have the Jumper advantage. You must apply it to both Jumper and Warp. If you are both a time- and world-jumper, and wish to use Warp with both abilities, buy this enhancement twice. When you jump, you can simultaneously use Warp to appear anywhere at your destination. Two die rolls are necessary – one per ability – and it is possible for one to succeed while the other fails, or for both to fail. +10% per linked Jumper advantage.
Special Limitations
Hyperjump:
You physically move through "hyperspace" or "jump space" to journey between destinations. This is not true, instantaneous teleportation; you have an effective speed, which means the trip takes time. On long trips, you will need to address life-support needs! In addition, you cannot activate Hyperjump in atmosphere and you cannot travel distances shorter than one light-second (186,000 miles, -10 to IQ). This effectively limits you to space travel. There is one benefit to Hyperjump: if you possess Navigation (Hyperspace) skill, you may substitute it for IQ. -50% if your effective speed is the speed of light (every 186,000 miles traveled takes one second); -25% if you can travel one light-year (-17 to IQ) per day.
Naked:
You can carry nothing when you teleport! You always arrive naked. -30%.
Psionic Teleportation:
Your ability is part of the Teleportation psi power. -10%.
Range Limit:
You cannot teleport more than a certain distance per hop. Choose a range and find its distance penalty above. The limitation is worth -5% × (10 + penalty); e.g., 10 yards (-0) would be -50%, while 100 miles (-6) would be -20%. A range limit of more than 100,000 miles is not a meaningful limitation.
Powers: Warp
Be it a supernatural miracle or a miracle of superscience, the capacity to travel at the speed of thought is a virtual necessity for any god, wizard, or ultra-tech space alien that wishes to be taken seriously. Examples from fiction include:
Gate:
Mystics and ritualists with Warp traditionally open swirling vortices or glowing portals that anyone can step through. A teleporter who can do this requires Tunnel (+40% or +100%) – plus Extra Carrying Capacity, Extra-Heavy (+50%), if he and his companions can bring along anything they can lift. Those who draw magical circles should add Preparation Required, 1 minute (-20%), while those who activate existing artifacts need Special Portal (from -20% for mirrors to -80% for a tiny number of sites of ancient power).
Matter Transmission (MT):
Cyborgs, robots, and vehicles can have superscience MT devices built in. Most have orbital range and require the user to set coordinates, giving Range Limit (-5%) and Blind Only (-50%). Some transmitters let the user bring along anything he can carry (Extra Carrying Capacity, Extra-Heavy, +50%); others, especially implants, send only his body (Naked, -30%). High-quality technology grants No Strain (+25%), Reliable (+5% per +1), or both. Experimental prototypes, on the other hand, tend to have Drift (-15%).
Psionic Teleportation:
Psionic teleporters can typically specify range and direction, and track psychic residues left by other teleporters. These capabilities call for Blind (+50%) and Tracking (+20%). Weak psis often have Range Limit; for a range of less than 10 yards, take Reduced Range and Range Limit, -50%. Stronger psis enjoy Extra Carrying Capacity and Reliable. Astral travelers need Projection (-0%), and use Astral Projection – not Psionic Teleportation – as their power modifier (either is -10%).
Stardrive:
Some vehicles and supers vanish from one location and appear at another by moving through a realm where faster-than-light (FTL) travel is possible. This calls for Hyperjump (-25% or -50%). Most FTL drives either demand precise coordinates (Blind Only, -50%) or require a "stargate" (Special Portal, -40%). However, the predictability of stardrives tends to offset these limitations, giving No Strain (+25%), Reliable +5 to +10 (+25% to +50%), and/or Tracking (+20%).
Super-Teleportation:
Supers and gods with Warp generally use it as if it were second nature. Most have Blink (+25%), No Strain (+25%), Reliable, and no limitations other than a power modifier – although "combat teleports" are sometimes short-ranged, with Range Limit, 10 yards (-50%). Adept supers often have a lot of Extra Carrying Capacity. They can grapple enemies and teleport with them, but this requires an Attack followed by a Ready to activate Warp, and the victim may try to break free in between.
Notes
Always spell out what goes on during the extra preparation time to reduce penalties: elaborate rituals, psychic visualization, precise computation of target coordinates, etc. Also note whether FP spent to offset penalties correspond to an expenditure of mana or chi, physical or psychic strain, or energy used to boost transmitter power. Such details convert Warp from a generic advantage to an interesting ability.
If the GM feels that a given modifier makes Warp too effective – or too cheap – he's welcome to change its cost or forbid it altogether. This is true for any trait, but Warp merits closer policing because of its tendency to short-circuit plots.
Alternatives
Warp with Hyperjump isn't the only way to handle FTL travel; Flight with extreme levels of Enhanced Move is equally valid. To travel to other times or dimensions, take Jumper. To teleport items to you, buy either Snatcher or an Affliction with Advantage, Warp.
Powers Special Enhancements
Blink:
Your ability works reflexively in times of stress. Once per turn, you can dodge an attack by making an IQ roll without the -10 for lack of preparation. Roll randomly for direction. You appear in the first safe open space in that direction. If there's no place like that within 10 yards, you go nowhere and your dodge fails. Blink is triggered by fear and adrenaline; thus, it generally only works in combat, although the GM may let you roll in other dangerous situations. Blink is incompatible with Hyperjump. +25%.
No Strain:
You ability isn't vulnerable to strain and burnout. You still go nowhere on a failure – and somewhere else on a critical failure – but you can always make an immediate repeated attempt at no extra penalty, and your Warp advantage never "burns out." +25%.
Tracking:
You can "follow" another teleporter. Apply all the usual modifiers to your roll, plus -1 per yard of distance between you and his departure point. The time since he teleported also affects your roll. Use the modifiers for preparation time but reverse the sign, giving from +10 if he just left to -10 if he left eight hours ago. Add a further -1 per doubling of time after that. If your quarry departed from the same point more than once, you can only follow his most recent trip. Success means you appear at his arrival point...even if he went somewhere bad due to a critical failure or Drift. Failure by 1 means you follow but suffer the effects of Drift. Greater failure works as usual for Warp. +20%.
Tunnel:
Using your ability always creates a portal of about your size, which lingers for 3d seconds. Anyone may step through it. +40% if it forms after you teleport; +100% if it forms beforehand, and you must be free to move to use it but don't have to go through at all (the GM may allow this version for Jumper and Permeation, too).
Powers Special Limitations
Anchored:
You can only teleport to a specific site or item (e.g., a magical beacon). You can't go anywhere else. This is incompatible with all special modifiers except Extra Carrying Capacity, Naked, No Strain, and Reliable. -50% if you teleport to a single site, but can switch this by physically visiting a new site for a minute; -60% if you teleport to a specific item that you can physically move from location to location, but that enemies could steal or place in danger; -80% for a single, fixed site.
Blind Only:
You must teleport to a set of coordinates exactly as if using the Blind enhancement, even if you can see or visualize your destination. Thus, you're always at -5, and each +1 costs 2 FP. Blind Only is mutually exclusive with Blind. -50%.
Drift:
You never arrive right on target. You appear at a random location somewhere in a circle with a radius equal to 1% of the distance you teleported (minimum one yard); e.g., if you teleported 10 miles, you'd materialize somewhere in a 0.1-mile circle around your target. The better your IQ roll, the closer you'll be to your target, but it's up to the GM exactly where you appear. On a critical failure, you're likely to appear high in the air or underground. -15%.
Projection:
You teleport your mind as a "ghost" while your body stays behind. See the Projection limitation under Jumper for details. Projection is incompatible with Extra Carrying Capacity, Naked, and Tunnel.
Special Portal:
You need a particular sort of gateway to use your advantage. The value depends on the rarity of the required portal (GM's decision). "Any reflective surface" is -20%; man-made "stargates" in every important star system are -40%; and a handful of ancient stone circles that only work a few nights of the year are -80%.
Powering Up
Warp best suits supernatural powers, particularly cosmic, magical, and psionic ones. Time- and space-warping powers of almost any source are also likely to include it.
Talent benefits the IQ roll to activate Warp, and is cumulative with the bonus from the Reliable enhancement. It also adds to Body Sense rolls to reorient oneself after teleporting.
Supers: Warp
The amount a teleporter can take with him is normally equal to his Basic Lift, which can be increased by taking Extra Carrying Capacity. To create a one who can handle incredibly large loads, take the Super-Effort modifier on his [[Lifting ST]9 or on his overall ST (see Strength and Super-Strength). A teleporter who has Telekinetic Carrying Capacity (defined below) can instead take Super-Effort on his Telekinesis. One who has Mental Carrying Capacity can apply a +400% Super-Effort modifier to his Will! Its only effect is to raise his mental carrying capacity as figured from his Will (defined below). Several additional options are available for super-teleporters, in the form of new enhancements and limitations:
Supers Special Enhancements
Mental Carrying Capacity:
Your carrying capacity for teleportation is based on the strength of your psyche, not of your body. Basic Lift is equal to the square of your Will, divided by 5, in pounds; use the Basic Lift and Encumbrance Table, but base it on Will instead of ST. You can buy Extra Carrying Capacity as usual, also based on Will instead of ST. This can let you teleport a load bigger than you can physically lift or carry, as long as you're touching it. +20%.
Note: This can be generalized to other attributes for the same percentage modifier, given a plausible rationale for doing so; the GM is the judge of what's "plausible."
Rapid Fire:
This enhancement can be applied to Warp to produce a character who teleports two or more times in a single turn with a single Concentrate maneuver. All the destinations and the sequence in which they are reached must be chosen at the outset. The distance modifier is based on the single longest distance between two consecutive points in the sequence. Success means you make your first hop, plus further hops equal to your margin of success. Cost is normal.
Example: The Cheshire Cat has Warp (Rapid Fire, RoF 7, +70%; Reliable 10, +50%) [220]. He wants to cross Cosmopolis going rooftop to rooftop. He plots a course that involves seven hops. Six are jaunts of between 20 and 100 yards, but his fourth teleport crosses the Cosmopolis River. That's 500 yards wide, so he has -3 for distance. He has only a second to prepare (-5), but his ability is Reliable (+10). With IQ 12, he must roll 14 or less. He rolls a 10, succeeding by 4. This gives him a total of five teleports out of seven. He makes it across the river, but stops two rooftops short of his goal. Had he prepared for 4 seconds (-3), he would have succeeded by 6 and made all seven hops.
Telekinetic Carrying Capacity:
Comparable to Mental Carrying Capacity, but your Basic Lift is determined by your Telekinesis level instead of your ST. Obviously, you have to have Telekinesis! You can teleport any object you have in your telekinetic grasp without physically touching it. If you are touching the object but haven't telekinetically locked onto it, you can't teleport it. +20%.
Supers Special Limitations
Exoteleport:
Your carrying capacity is figured purely from your Basic Lift, without including your body weight. Normally this means you can't actually go anywhere with Warp! Use this limitation to figure a diminished-cost version of Warp that can be the effect of an Affliction. By itself, this limitation lets you teleport up to your Basic Lift (an encumbrance of None); for heavier loads, buy Extra Carrying Capacity and combine the two modifiers. Note that this makes the Extra-Heavy level worth a net +0%, which is reasonable as it typically exceeds the sum of your body weight and Basic Lift! -50%.
Note: If your Basic Lift is high enough so that your reduced carrying capacity exceeds your body weight, you can teleport yourself with Exoteleport. However, your body counts against your carrying capacity, rather than being over and above your carrying capacity. The IQ roll to do this is made at -2 because you aren't reflexively teleporting your body but rather treating it as an external load, a less natural maneuver.
It's possible to use a form of Super-Effort with teleportation. Don't apply the Super-Effort modifier to Warp to do this. Instead, apply it to your ST or Lifting ST, and base the amount you can teleport on your enhanced lifting capacity. If you have Telekinetic Carrying Capacity, buy Super-Effort for your Telekinesis; if you have Mental Carrying Capacity, you can instead apply it to Will, again at +400%. This does not benefit any aspect of Will other than its use to determine how big a load you can teleport.