Where Worlds Collide

For millenia some kandar have possessed natural powers of mind over matter, or mind over mind, and mastered ancient techniques for using these powers. In recent times humans too have been found with similar powers. This chapter details the abilities available, and describes how they can be used in the game.

Power Levels

It’s up to the GM to decide what power levels are appropriate for his or her game. A game in which several of the characters are powerful wizards will have a very different feel from one in which most characters are ‘mundanes’ without any psionic abilities.

Latents

Latents are people with potential but no actual training. Their powers tend to be weak and unpredictable, manifesting itself as things like second sight or a danger sense. Most aren’t even aware they have powers. Typically they have the Psionic Potential Gift, but no Abilities.

Minor Wizards

Those whose powers are acknowledged, but weak. Such people tend not to flaunt their abilities. Often, they’re just enough to give them an edge in everyday life. Such a character might have no more than two or three psionic Abilities at Poor or Mediocre, and will have to rely on their mundane abilities a lot of the time. They’re a good choice for PCs in a low-psi game where most of the other PCs don’t have any psionic powers.

Journeyman Wizards

This is the sort of person associated with the word ‘wizard’ for someone with experience of dealing with wizards. They make up the rank and file of the Academy of the Mind. Such a character might have up to half-a-dozen Abilities at Fair, with one or two at Good, possibly in more than one power. They’re viable PCs in a party that mixes wizards and mundanes, especially if there is only one psi in the party as a specialist.

Master Wizards

This is the sort of person associated with the word ‘wizard’ for someone with no experience of dealing with such people. These are the people whose powers might move mountains. They will be Good or Great in most of their abilities, with one or two as high as Superb. They’re only really suitable for PCs if the entire party is made up such characters. Fortunately for mundanes, higher-ranking wizards don’t pay much regard to the affairs of ordinary people.

Learning Powers

All psionic Abilities in fall into four groups, known in Kalyr as Ways. The majority of psionic characters have powers in just one or two of these ways.

Psionic Gifts

Not everyone can learn powers. Psionics are something innate; either you’ve got it, or you haven’t. Therefore you must take at least one Gift to be able to use any Psionic Abilities.

Instinctive Psionic Ability

You have one psionic ability that you are able to use intuitively without any training, at a Ability level of Poor. See the psionics section later chapter for more details of powers available. You cannot learn other abilities in the same power unless you take the gift again for the other ability. You can raise the ability level above Poor through training though a Profession

Psionic Potential

You have the potential to learn any psionic ability in one of the four ways. This Gift grants no Ability levels in any psionic ability, although you may gain levels though Talents or Professions. Abilities start from a base of non-existant rather than Poor. This Gift may be taken more than once for different ways.

Instinctive Psionic Power

This resembles Instinctive Psionic Ability, except it applies to all Abilities within one of the four Ways. This is a very powerful gift, which counts to two normal gifts.

Psionic Strength

Your psionic power is strong. You can only take this gift in conjunction with another gift that grants psionic abilities. This has no effect on your Ability levels, but it does add one level to the effect when you successfully win a contest. You can take this more than once, for a +2.

Psionic Resistance

You have a strong resistance to psionic powers used against you. Either you’re resistant to all powers, in which case any use of any psionic ability against you is at -1 to Ability, or you can be resistant to a single power, in which case any use of an ability within that power against you is at -2. You make take this Gift more than once, in which case the resistance is cumulative. You can’t be resistant in any psionic power you have, but you can have resistance to one power and abilities in another different power. Note than psionic healing counts as use of a power against you, so there’s a downside to being resistant to Mind-Reading (which falls under the same power).

Psionic Talent

Like any mundane Talent, except that this gives four Ability levels in any psionic ability. The abilities do not have to be from the same way, but they do have to be abilities you have access to through one or more other psionic gifts. You can either take one level in four different abilities, or two levels in one ability and one level in two others.

The Way of Restoration

Although this way is most commonly used to restore the body and mind, which is how it gets it’s name, it can also be misused to cause harm, especially in combination with abilities from other powers. Covers healing, body control, and some aspects of telepathy.

Body Control

Gives the psi control over their own body. It allows a psi to slow their breathing and heart rate, which needs just a Poor result, or ignore the effect of wounds, which requires a Fair, Good or Great result depending on the severity of the wound.

Healing

Allows the healing of wounds in others. Asuccessful use of Healing reduces a wound by one level. A Fair result reduces a Hurt to a Scratch, a Good is needed for a Very Hurt, a Great for an Defeated, and a Superb for Destroyed. A roll of Fair or better will still stabilise someone who’s near death, preventing them from dying.

Mind-Reading

The ability to read a target’s mind. Any use of Mind-Reading is an opposed contest, either against the target’s Willpower, or whatever active ability they’re trying to retaliate with. A Hurt result will allow the psi to read emotions, a Very Hurt allows the reading of surface thoughts. Defeated is needed to probe memories or tap into the target’s senses. The target can also make a roll against their Perception Ability. If this beats the psi’s Mind-Reading roll, the target realises someone’s trying to read his mind.

The Way of Vision

This way covers the perception of things imperceptible to normal people, transcending some of the limitations of space and time.

Far-Sensing

This allows a psi to extend any of their normal senses around them to gather information. It can be used to see what’s behind a door, eavesdrop on a conversation that’s out of normal earshot, determine what something tastes like without physically touching it, locate a specific individual a significant distance away, or detect the active use of a psionic power. The better the result, the longer the distance and greater the detail. For example, a Mediocre result is enough to recognise a person on the opposite side of a door, eavesdrop on a conversation on the opposite side of the crowded room, or detect that somebody else is using psionics in the same room. A Good result might be needed to locate a known individual a couple of streets away, while a Superb result will be needed get a detailed view of the inside of a building on the other side of the city.

Precognition

This allows a psi to, within limits, foretell the future. In the Kalyr universe, the future hasn’t actually happened yet, so it’s not possible to violate causality. What this ability can do is predict one possible future, or predict the most likely outcome of a proposed action. It also acts as a form of danger sense, giving warnings of potential ambushes or falling objects in enough time to prevent them from occurring. The better the roll, the better the prediction, both in terms of accuracy and the distance into the future.

Psychometry

This allows a psi to gain insight into the past. It will tell something of the history of an item or location, particularly violent or traumatic events associated with strong emotions. The better the roll, the more information that can be gained, both in terms of detail and distance into the past. For instance, a Mediocre result might reveal that the sword being examined was used to kill someone a few days ago. A Good roll might give a fleeting image of the killer.

The Way of the Will

The Way of the Will is the power of mind over mind, this way allows one to impose one’s will over others: This covers the remaining aspects of telepathy, particularly those abilities used in telepathic combat.

Mind-Blow

A direct mind attack that does mental damage against the target. If the attack beats whatever ability is used to resist, and gets a Hurt result, the target is temorarily stunned. If the result in Defeated, the target is knocked unconscious. Near Death will leave the target in a coma, and may well cause permanent brain-burn damage. This ability can also be used to break down a Mind Shield; any damage reduces the effectiveness of the Mind Shield, until it’s weakened enough for other powers to get through it.

Mind-Control

The ability to control the mind of another. A Hurt result is enough to affect emotions, Very Hurt is enough to prevent the target from doing something like attacking you, or to make them do something they were naturally inclined to have done anyway. An Defeated result is needed to actually control someone like a puppet, although it will take a Destroyed to force the target to do something fundamentally against their nature.

Mindspeech

The ability to send thoughts, either words or images. Sending information to a willing subject is an unopposed action, the difficulty depending on the distance and complexity of the information to be sent. For example, to pass a simple verbal message to someone a few feet away requires no more than a Poor result. To pass the same message to someone the other side of town might require a Great. A Fair result might pass a mental image of a person’s appearance, sufficient for the target to be able to recognise that person in the flesh.

Mind-Shield

A defensive measure, this makes it harder for a hostile psionic to use any other power against your mind. Every level above Poor adds to whatever skill you’re using to resist mental attacks. It has no effect against physical attacks using The Way of the World.

The Way of the World

The Way of the World is the power of mind over matter. The rarest and most powerful way, those with this power can make changes in the physical world. Followers of this way can manipulate matter and energy, create illusions, set things on fire.

Light-Sculpt

Bends and twists light energy to create illusions. This is different from Vision-Sending, in that the illusion isn’t just in the mind of the target, but can be seen by anyone in range. The result of the roll determines how large or believable the illusion is. It does require some light source to manipulate, so it doesn’t work in complete darkness. This ability can also be used to make something invisible, by creating a convincing enough illusion of them not being there.

Matter Rearrangement

The ability change one substance into another. It can be used to turn lead into gold, the soles of someone’s shoes into glue, or make a weapon crumble into dust. A very high roll is needed to make a permanent molecular or atomic change. In most cases the substance will revert to it’s original chemical nature after a few minutes, although damage to an item is still permanent.

Telekinesis

This is the power to move things and even throw them around using the power of the mind. The amount of matter you can lift is equivalent to that which you can lift using the Lifting Ability, except that you don’t need any physical contact with the object. It does require you to see whatever you’re trying to lift, either line-of-sight, or though use of the Far-Sensing ability

Temperature Control

This is the power to heat things up, or make things colder. It can be used to make items so cold they shatter, or cause things to melt or burst into flame.

Using Powers

Psionic powers use the same basic game mechanics as any other Ability use. Some uses of psionic abilities are contests against forces of nature, with a difficulty set by the GM. More often a psionic contest is against another character using either another psionic ability, or mundane one.

Duplar tries using his Psychometry ability to determine the nature and origin of a mysterious artefact he’s discovered. He has a an ability level of Good. He rolls Fair, which the GM determines is enough to tell him that he feels sensations of ‘twisting in space and time’. Duplar concludes this means that it’s originated from outside Kalyr, but still has no idea who created it or bought it here.

Reylorna has been given the unpleasant and unpopular task of screening the minds everyone passing through the city gates in an attempt to capture an assassin. She zeroes in on someone that looks suspicious by his body language. She has a Mind-Reading of Great, and rolls a Superb. This beats the target’s Good Willpower, and her +2 margin of victory is worth a Very Hurt. This is enough to read his surface thoughts, which reveal that he’s no only paranoid, but hoping he can get past the guards without being caught. He only rolls a Fair on Perception, so he doesn’t realise his mind’s being read. Reylorna signals to the accompanying legionnaires to arrest this man for more detailed examination.

Sometimes a contest isn’t between a psi and a passive opponent, but against someone actively trying to do something. In this case, it should be treated as a contest between the psi’s ability and whatever mundane ability the opponent is using. This can handle things like a fight between a psi and a swordsman, for instance. In this case, whoever wins the context wins the whole fight, whatever the margin of victory.

Hollis, wants to lift both herself , her companion, and the critically wounded man she’s just rescued to the roof of an adjacent building to escape the pursuing guards. This requires the Telekinesis psi skill. Hollis’ Great Telekinesis is more than enough to lift the weight of three people 20 feet into the air. But since the object is to get them out of sight before their pursuers reach the alleyway, the GM decides she has to beat their running skill of Mediocre; a really bad roll would mean that she still managed to lift the three of them to roof level, but not before the pursuing guards saw them.

Reylorna has upset an enraged Knight of Kardak, who draws his sword to cut her down. She tries to use here Fair Mind-Control skill to defend herself. If she beats his Melee Combat skill, which is also Fair, she can prevent him from attacking her. If she loses, she’ll be hit by the sword, and probably wounded.

Backlash

Many contests against passive opponents aren’t totally without risk, and a bad failure can result in you taking mental damage. This can happen with the use of any power that’s resisted by Willpower, or use of Telekinesis to shift a very heavy weight. The damage is derived from the the margin of failure; -1 is a Scratch, -2 is Hurt, and so on.

Reylorna continues her mind-scanning of the crowds at the city gates. She spots another suspicious-looking individual, and her player rolls Fair. Unfortunately for Reylorna, her chosen target has Great Willpower. Reylorna’s mental powers overload, and she takes a Hurt as mental damage. The GM interprets that as a terrible headache. She’s now -1 on all psionic abilities until she recovers.

Combining Psionic and Mundane Abilities

Many psionic abilities can be used to enhance mundane skills, such as stealth, locksmith or even combat, provided both abilities are Fair or better. You must make a roll for both the psionic ability and the mundane one, and take the best result. You can’t use two different psionic abilities to enhance a mundane skill in the same contest.

Some examples:

• Telekinesis to enhance Mechanic
• Telekinesis or Far-Sensing to enhance Locksmith
• LightSculpt or Vision Sending to enhance Stealth.
• Mind-Reading (to sense opponent’s intentions), Precognition (to predict opponent’s moves) or Mind-Control (to distract opponent) to enhance any combat ability.

Advanced Techniques

Advanced techniques combine two different abilities, many of which are within different powers. To use an advanced technique, you must roll against both abilities, taking the lower of the two rolls as the result.

• Energy Bolt: Combines Telekinesis with Matter Rearrangement, it allows the caster to attack with a bolt of raw mental energy, either against a single target, or an area. This is a missile attack, which the target may attempt to dodge.
• Mindswitch: This very rare and perilous ability combines Mind Control with Body Control, and allows one to swap one’s mind with that of the target. Once you switch, the change is permanent; you will have to Mindswitch again to get back into your ‘original’ body.
• Mindwipe: Combining Mind-Reading and Mind-Control, this gives ability to edit memories, either to delete memories, or add false ones. This is a slow and time-consuming process and cannot be used in the middle of a combat.
• Shape-Changing: Combines LightSculpt and Body Control, and lets a psi change their physical appearance, either to resemble another person, or even change into an animal. You retain your own physical abilities and don’t gain any natural abilities of whatever you’ve turned into. If you turn yourself into a bird, you’ll still need Telekinesis in order to fly. You can’t change into a creature substantially larger or smaller than yourself, and mass remains unchanged.
• Shield: Combines Telekinesis and Far-Sensing. Creates a physical bubble, which can defend against any physical attack.
• Vision-Sending: Combining Mindspeech and Mind-Control, this gives the ability to take over the senses of a target, and make them see or hear things that aren’t really there.

Getting Complex

Combining abilities isn’t restricted to the advanced techniques listed above. You can combine any two psionic abilities in a single complex action, limited only by the creativity of the players.

Hollis (who has Great Telekinesis) must join forces with Dheymyrdh (who has Great Far-Sensing and Fair Mindspeech) in order to move a heavy power source from the dome of the Academy of Knowledge to the citadel of the Academy of the Mind. Telekinesis requires line-of-sight, but the requires machine is located inside the dome where she can’t see it. Dheymyrdh, given a verbal description of where the device is located, casts his senses towards the dome half a mile away in order to locate it. His player rolls a Superb, which is enough not only to locate it precisely, but get a detailed vision of the scene. He then relays this scene to Hollis, and his player rolls Fair on Mindspeech to achieve this. Hollis now tries to lift the item and manouver it towards the door, without damaging it or anything else in the process. Since she’s seeing the scene second-hand, the GM rules that she’s at -1 to skill. Hollis’ player rolls a Good, and manages to mentally grasp the item.

Maneuvering the thing is tricky. Dheymyrdh continues to Far-Sense the scene and relay the progress to Hollis so she can attempt to steer it. Since this is now an attempt by Dheymyrdh to use two abilities at simulteously, both are at -1. Dheymyrdh’s player rolls Fair and Fair, which the GM rules means that the image he sends to Hollis is slightly innaccurate. The GM calls for Hollis’ player to make another Telekinesis roll, this time at -2 (-1 for the second hand view, and another -1 because it’s not quite accurate). She rolls Mediocre. The GM rules that the thing has gone off course, knocking over a stack of boxes, spilling their delicate contects, then scraping the power source against the doorway of the dome.

With the device clear of the doorway, Hollis moves it vertically upwards until she can see it with her own eyes, and then flies across to the Academy citadel. The GM calls for a third roll, this time with no penalties. Hollis’ player rolls a Good, and the GM rules that this is enough to bring the device home.

Detailed Contests

You can use the detailed contest system to play out dramatic psionic combats, just as in physical fights or extended social contests. In each round the loser takes either Mental or Physical damage depending on the abilities being used. For any psionic ability other than Mind-Blow, mental damage goes away at the end of the contest.