Blackmoor Vituperative

My day job (which I truly enjoy) has kept me really busy over the past couple of weeks, so I have not made as much progress on Bulletproof Blues as I had hoped. I do still plan to have the book finished by the end of December, but I will have to hustle!

In the last day or so, I have decided on a format for the power listing, and wrote up two powers which will be the template that the rest of the powers follow: Paralysis and Mental Paralysis.

Paralysis

Activation: Attack

Task roll: Accuracy vs. Agility

Target: Single target

Range: Firefight

Cost: 1 character point per rank

The Paralysis power prevents a character from moving or taking physical actions. The mechanism which causes the Paralysis must be specified when this power is purchased. For example, the target might be entangled in webs, encased in ice, bound by rings of magical force, or they could be literally paralyzed by some form of toxic gas.

Attacking a character under the effects of Paralysis provides a +6 attack bonus (the standard attribute bonus for attacking a helpless target).

Using Paralysis requires an Accuracy task roll against the Agility of the intended target. If the attacker achieves a massive success, then the rank of the Paralysis is increased by three for the purposes of breaking out of it. For example, if a character is affected by a rank 4 Paralysis, and the attacker achieved a massive success, they would need to make a Brawn task roll against task difficulty 15 (4 + 3 + 8‌) to break out of the Paralysis.

To break out of the Paralysis, the target must make a successful Brawn task roll against the rank of the Paralysis. If the character succeeds at this task roll, they may use their remaining movement action. If the paralyzed character gets a massive success on this roll, then they break out as a free action. For example, if a character is affected by a rank 5 Paralysis, they would need to make a Brawn task roll against task difficulty 13 (5 + 8‌). If they roll a 16 or more, they achieve a massive success, and breaking out is a free action rather than a task action.

If the character has not broken out of the Paralysis by the end of the scene, then they break out of it shortly thereafter. How long thereafter is largely plot-dependent. For example, if the target of the Paralysis is left behind for the police to apprehend, then the Paralysis lasts long enough for them to do so.

Mental Paralysis

Activation: Attack

Task roll: Willpower vs. Willpower

Target: Single target

Range: Visual

Cost: 2 character points per rank

The Mental Paralysis power prevents a character from moving, thinking, or taking any actions. While affected by Mental Paralysis, only a moment seems to pass for the target, but after they break out of it, they are aware that something unusual has happened, and that they have “lost time”. For example, the “lost time” might appear as a brief “white out” of the target’s vision, or perhaps the target simply falls asleep for a time. The mechanism which causes the Mental Paralysis must be specified when this power is purchased. For example, the target might be frozen in time, commanded to “Sleep!”, or they could be knocked out by some form of toxic gas.

Attacking a character under the effects of Mental Paralysis provides a +6 attack bonus (the standard attribute bonus for attacking a helpless target).

Using Mental Paralysis requires a Willpower task roll against the Willpower of the intended target. If the attacker achieves a massive success, then the rank of the Mental Paralysis is increased by three for the purposes of breaking out of it. For example, if a character is affected by a rank 6 Mental Paralysis, and the attacker achieved a massive success, they would need to make a Willpower task roll against task difficulty 17 (6 + 3 + 8‌) to break out of the Mental Paralysis.

To break out of the Mental Paralysis, the target must make a successful Willpower task roll against the rank of the Mental Paralysis. If the character succeeds at this task roll, they may use their remaining movement action. If the paralyzed character gets a massive success on this roll, then they break out as a free action. For example, if a character is affected by a rank 6 Mental Paralysis, they would need to make a Willpower task roll against task difficulty 14 (6 + 8‌). If they roll a 17 or more, they achieve a massive success, and breaking out is a free action rather than a task action.

If the character has not broken out of the Mental Paralysis by the end of the scene, then they break out of it shortly thereafter. How long thereafter is largely plot-dependent. For example, if the target of the Mental Paralysis is left behind for the police to apprehend, then the Mental Paralysis lasts long enough for them to do so.