[HoE] Syker Powers/Talents

[DarrinBrig@aol.com]

I've get a lot of positive feedback on my HOE site (which I greatly
appreciate) but not so much discussion about the content. As I don't get much
opportunity to playtest my material, I was hoping I could post the syker
powers I've been working on directly and get some input back on how they
work... are some of them lame or too munchy, should they or could they be
more/less effective, and so on.  So, anyway, I'd appreciate your help on fine-
tuning this stuff. I've added my own notes/comments in [brackets].

Absorb 

Type: Sykokinetic 
TN: Special 
Strain: Special 
Speed: 1 (Vamoose) 
Duration: Instant 
Range: Self 

What's worse than nailing a Syker with a Brain Blast or Atomic Blast and not
even scratching him? Well, that'd be absorbing the energy of the blast and
then having it used against you, of course. When a syker takes damage from a
weapon or power that does energy or supernatural damage, he can use this power
to absorb the energy and convert it into extra strain. This power can't help
with physical damage from bullets, conventional explosives, or normal fires,
but it will work on a lot of other kinds of energy, including lasers, plasma
bolts, blast-type powers, and some kinds of supernatural damage. It can't stop
pyrokinetic powers or telekinetic powers like Aztec Surprise and Boneripping,
and you're really out of luck if you get Brain Bombed. 

When the syker gets hit, he can spend a vamoose action to try to absorb the
damage. Roll for the location and total damage. The TN for Absorb is half of
this total rounded up, so if the syker gets Brain Blasted for 21 damage then
the TN for absorb is 11. If he fails the roll, he takes all the damage as
normal and spends 2 strain. If he makes the roll, he takes no damage and gains
1 strain for each die of damage. If the damage was a head hit for 5d10 damage,
he gets 5 strain back. This strain is only temporary, and fades away at the
rate of 1 point every 10 minutes.

Copycat 

Type: Psionic 
TN: Opposed 
Strain: 3 
Speed: 1 
Duration: 1 hour, +1/raise 
Range: Touch 

Gettin' blasted by a power you don't know? Use this one to steal it and use it
for yourself! Earth Sykers were much more likely to go toe-to-toe with other
sykers, and some of of the craftier ones came up with this power to help even
the playing field. Russian Alliance sykers had the most success with it early
on in the war, but it wasn't long before the western Academies caught on. 

When used on another syker, roll your Blasting against the target's blasting.
If successful, the syker may then "copy" one syker power from the target that
he doesn't currently know and use it as if it were one of his own powers for
the duration of Copycat. If the target has no powers that the syker doesn't
already know or if the roll fails, there is no effect. If the syker who
initiated the Copycat goes bust, the target learns one of *his* powers for the
duration in addition to the brainburn. If the target goes bust, he doesn't
suffer any brainburn but the Copycat syker learns the new power *permanently*.
If they both go bust, they both get brainburn but nothing else happens. 

[I was thinking of adapting another use for this power, to let the syker steal
aptitudes he doesn't know from non-sykers... what do you think, or should that
be another power?]

Frag 

Type: Sykokinetic 
TN: 5 or higher 
Strain: 2 
Speed: 2 
Duration: Permanent 
Range: 10 yards/Blastin' level 

Slow Burn is great for blowing apart vehicles and getting past armor, but
there's a whole bunch of machines and devices that Slow Burn won't work on.
Remember all those gremlins from Deadlands? Well, they didn't exactly leave,
and this power calls up the worst of them to do the syker's dirty work. It was
initially developed to circumvent security cameras, locks, and frying computer
systems, but I'm sure you can imagine plenty of other uses. 

By concentrating on a device or machine, the syker bombards it with psychic
vibrations that shake it apart and cause it to malfunction, hence the name
"Frag". The TN is 5 or the target's size, whichever is higher. For simple
items like cameras or a cheap padlock, the Marshall can just consider the item
destroyed on a successful roll. For weapons, vehicles, or other devices with
reliability factors, subtract 2 from the reliability for every raise and make
a reliability check. Most items that don't normally roll for reliability have
a reliability of 20 for the purposes of this power. 

[HoE doesn't seem to have rules for reliability... hopefully it's not much of
a kludge to add them. Should the reliability loss be permanent, or maybe only
1 per raise?]

If you couldn't guess, this power is a junker's worst nightmare, and junker
devices are handled a little differently since they utilize spiritual energy
directly. If the Frag roll is successful, draw one card from a fresh deck for
each point of GR drain and an additional card for every success. If a joker
comes up then the device is destroyed, and if it can explode, it does so.

[Does drawing cards bog down the game too much? Maybe I should come up with a
different mechanic for this power.]

Mind Blank 

Type: Psionic 
TN: 5 
Strain: 1 
Speed: 1 
Duration: Concentration or 1/minute 
Range: Self 

As new methods of detection, mindreading, and interrogation were developed,
there was naturally a lot of resources spent on finding ways to counter and
resist such powers. Mind Blank was thus developed, and although it's not
exactly 100% effective, it's sure better than nothing at all. 

Mind Blank clears the syker's mind of detectable thoughts and masks his
psychic presense, making his mind unreadable and undetectable. Naturally this
power is only really effective against syker powers, but it's an effective
counter if you don't want someone else crawling around inside your skull. With
a Mind Blank up, anyone attempting to read, scan, or use a Psionic power on
the syker gets a -4 to his roll, -2 for every raise on the Mind Blank roll. At
the Marshall's call, this penalty can be applied to someone trying to make a
Scrutinize roll on the syker.

[I'm surprised something like this didn't make it into Brain Burners. An early
draft of this power extended the range to possibly include the syker's
companions, but I decided that sykers either work alone or with other sykers.]

Peeping Tom 

Type: Sykokinetic 
TN: 5 
Strain: 1 
Speed: 1 
Duration: Concentration or 1/6 rounds 
Range: 10 yards/Blastin' level, +10 yards/raise 

This power lets sykers see around corners and through solid objects, sort of
like X-Ray vision from the comic books. Aside from making spying a little
easier, this power is usually used to establish line of sight for another
syker power. It can also be used to negate any penalties due to fog, smoke, or
other cover that could block or interfere with line of sight. Unfortunately,
this doesn't entirely circumvent all physical barriers... a wall that stops
bullets will stop a Brain Blast just as easily, regardless of how well the
syker can see his target. Most sykers can see through lead, but the Marshall
may assign a penalty for very thick or supernatural barriers.

[I was worried that this power was a little too weak to be much use, but hey,
at least it ain't Air Bubble.]

And lastly... this is an idea I've been kicking around, not sure what to do
with it yet... something very similar to Gifts from F&B, only I'd call them
Talents.  These would be syker abilities that are either always working or
don't require a roll.  They'd be much more reliable than stuff like Brain
Blast or whatever, but wouldn't be quite so effective. The idea would be that
some sykers have developed these talents, from things like Night Vision, or
weaving their own skin into a tough hide like hardened leather, or maybe even
growing claws/fangs (hey, maybe the sykers are into LARPs, eh?).  They
wouldn't be as effective as Templar rewards or Blastin' powers, but you
wouldn't have to worry about brainburn.  My big worry is that it'd turn sykers
into spandex superheroes. Some examples:

Night Vision - cancels penalties for darkness
Leatherneck - tough skin acts like light armor (-2)
Claws - +2 on hand damage
Accelerated Healing - makes healing rolls every 3 days instead of 5
Adamantium Skeleton - hah, just kidding. 
Danger Sense - same as sixth sense from joker tables
Animal Affinity - same as joker tables
Toxin Resistance - +2 to alcohol/poison/rad rolls
High Pain Tolerance - same as Hardy or Thick-Skinned

Anyway, as you can see, a lot of these could easily be duplicated with
established Edges. I just wanted to toss the idea out and see if anyone
thought it had any merit. Or maybe some of this stuff is better suited for
Doomsayer mutations.