Base Range: 15 meters, or Touch (when attacking) Duration: 1 combat round
Character Point Cost: 3 points per level
Power Point Cost: 1 per level each combat round to activate, 1 per combat round to keep active
Energy Control allows your character to manipulate a single type of “energy”, and to generate that energy type
if it is not already present in the environment. This super power covers several energy types, including some that are not normally considered energy types (cold, darkness, gravity, etc.). Consult “Types of Energy”
(above) for more detail. Each Energy Control type is a separate super power, chosen when the power is pur-chased. When you select a type, it should be specified on your character sheet, such as Energy Control (Cold), Energy Control (Darkness), etc. Your character can have multiple types of Energy Control, though each must be purchased separately. If you wish to have a character with a range of super powers relating to a sin-gle energy type, you should purchase Energy Control and other powers such as Absorption, Armor, Energy Projection, Resistance, and Snare Projection, using your energy type as the defining characteristic of those powers.
Each level of Energy Control is equivalent to a point on the resistance table, for purpose of quantifying the power. For example, if you are trying to affect an area, the level is equal to SIZ. If you’re trying to overcome the STR of an opponent, the level is equal to STR. When directed at a specific target (as opposed to an environ-ment or area), you may need to succeed in a resistance roll using the power’s level as the active force.
Whenever possible, use the resistance table if the power affects something (or someone) that will be affected sig-nificantly by the power.
Once a super power is active, your character can instantaneously deactivate it, ending the major effects.
Some lingering effects may remain (such as non-harm-ful frost for cold, or smoldering embers for fire), but there is no further game effect once the super power’s effect is ended. If the use of the energy set into motion significant reactions in the environment, the gamemas-ter may decide that these effects are continual, such as a heat energy setting a fire near a gas station.
Following are specific guidelines for each energy type covered by this power, though you and the gamemaster can devise other types:
COLD CONTROL: Cold Control can cover an item or section of floor with ice, freeze a liquid, make an item brit-tle and easier to shatter, or freeze an opponent’s limb (or entire body) as if the Snare Projection power. In cases where the target’s SIZ is applicable, assume that the power affects 1 SIZ point per level. The target must succeed with his or her CON vs. the super power’s levels on the resist-ance table. Failure means that the target takes 1D6 points of damage per 10 levels of Cold Control (rounded up) from the intense cold. The gamemaster may require an Agility or Grapple roll to touch the target. With the gamemaster’s discretion, any appropriate environmental effects are also applied. If the target has some protection such as warm clothing, this may serve as Protection against the damage (or increase CON for purposes of the resist-ance roll), at the gamemaster’s discretion. The gamemaster A hero’s ability to control and project Heat energy could be portrayed
as a special ray-gun powered by his super energy points “carried” in a pack on his back. These form parts of his super hero costume.
should use discretion in what uses the ability can imitate, using the level as a baseline for resistance table rolls. Cold Control can cancel the effects of Heat Control on a level-for-level basis.
DARKNESS CONTROL: Each level of Darkness Control creates a volume of darkness 2 meters in radius, centered around your character or at a point within range of his or her choosing. Within this volume, all creatures without some form of infrared vision will suffer all the penalties of fighting in darkness, as described in
“Darkness” on page 220. Darkness Control does not cause any hit points in damage. Any normal benefits from intense darkness also apply, such as to the Hide skill. Aside from light-based powers, there is no resist-ance to Darkness Control, as it is not directly cast on a target. The only counter to it is a light-based power, a super sense, another sense like hearing, or some other means of detection such as sonar. Each additional level adds another meter to the volume of darkness. Darkness Control cancels Light Control on a level-for-level basis.
ELECTRIC CONTROL: Your character can manipu-late ambient electric current or generate fresh current.
For the purpose of this power, each level lets your char-acter utilize enough electricity to affect 1 SIZ point of an electrical appliance or vehicle. Additionally, your char-acter can generate enough electricity from his or her body to cause 1D6 points of damage per 10 levels of the power (rounded up), if a resistance roll is made with the super power’s levels vs. the target’s CON. The gamemas-ter may require an Agility or Grapple roll to touch the target. Other uses may include shorting out any non-insulated equipment that has metallic parts and runs on a power current (use the object’s SIZ as a guideline for the strength in a resistance roll), or to transfer ambient electricity into a storage battery at the rate of 1 power point per point of stored electricity.
GRAVITY CONTROL: Gravity Control lets your character increase or decrease a target’s SIZ by 1 point per level (similar to the Density Control super power).
The target can be a living being or an inanimate object.
This may adjust the target’s hit points and damage bonus. If used against an object, use the super power’s levels vs. the object’s hit points as the resistance roll.
Against another character, it is an opposed power points resistance roll. If your character deactivates the power, the targeted object (or character) regains his or her orig-inal weight instantaneously. A character whose SIZ has doubled or been reduced by half (round up) involuntari-ly has all his or her combat and physical actions made Difficult, due to his or her unfamiliarity with the current weight. If the target is accustomed to this power’s effects, or is voluntarily under its influence, there is no penalty to actions. Gravity Control can be used offensively, caus-ing physical damage from intense gravity increascaus-ing.
Once a target is already under the effects, on the suc-ceeding combat rounds the gravity can be increased to do damage at the rate of 1D6 points of damage per 10 levels of the power (rounded up).
HEAT CONTROL: Each level of Heat Control lets your character fill 1 SIZ point of an area with flame, or to snuff out that much existing flame. This flame can be used to ignite an object, to provide light, or to warm an area. It can be shaped and otherwise manipulated. If directed against a living being, the target must be over-come by the super power’s levels vs. his or her power points in a resistance roll. Heat Control causes 1D6 points of damage per 10 levels of the power (rounded up) to the target, though the object or opponent to be burnt must be touched (requiring an Agility or Grapple roll). Heat Control can also be used to melt items, using the power’s level versus the object’s SIZ or hit points on the resistance table. The gamemaster should increase or decrease the object’s SIZ for the purpose of this roll based on how susceptible to melting it is. Each successful resistance roll for melting an object does the power’s level in points of damage to the object and lowers its SIZ by the same number of points. When the hit points or SIZ reach 0, the object is melted completely. Heat Control can cancel the effects of Cold Control on a level-for-level basis.
KINETIC CONTROL: This energy type lets your character exert crushing force on an item or targeted opponent. Each level of this power allows your character to affect an area equal to 1 SIZ point and affect it with crushing pressure. The gamemaster may require an Agility or Grapple roll to touch the target. If the target’s CON can be overcome with the super power’s levels on a resistance roll, it suffers 1D6 points of damage per 10 levels of the power (rounded up) from pure kinetic ener-gy. If directed against a nonliving target, the object’s cur-rent hit points are used as the basis of the resistance roll.
Another utilization of Kinetic Control is to inhibit the use of kinetic force in the same area, creating a form of armor against kinetic attacks or action. This may be used to lessen the effects of a fall, or duplicate the effects of the Armor (Kinetic) super power, though it must be tar-geted specifically and only lasts 1 combat round. If uncertain about what Kinetic Control can do, assume it is the equivalent of a rapid or forceful movement, not subtle or dexterous.
LIGHT CONTROL: Each level of this power allows your character to fill 1 SIZ point of an area or illuminate 1 SIZ point of an object with the brightness of a light bulb. The light can be of any color desired, and can strobe, pulse, or radiate from any source within range.
Light Control can potentially blind a target if it strikes him or her in the eyes (gamemaster’s discretion) and if he or she is overcome by the super power’s levels vs. the target’s power points in a resistance roll. All sight-based actions for a blinded character become Difficult for one combat round, after which the blindness wears off. Light Control does not cause any hit points damage.
Additional forms of light (infrared, ultraviolet, etc.) may also be created and utilized by this power, with effects to be determined by you and the gamemaster, using the super power’s levels as a guideline. Light Control can cancel the effects of Darkness Control on a level-for-level basis.
MAGNETIC CONTROL: With Magnetic Control, your character can influence and manipulate 1 SIZ point of metal or metallic substances. He or she can magnetize metal objects, draw them to him or her through a pull of magnetism, or affix one metallic object to another mag-netically even if those objects would not normally be able to be magnetized. Magnetic Control does not cause any hit points in damage. Other uses may include dam-aging any mechanical item that has metallic parts (use the object’s SIZ as a guideline for the strength in a resist-ance roll), as well as disrupting electronic equipment or erasing magnetically stored electronic media such as memory cards, floppy disks, etc. If utilizing Magnetic Control against a countering force, use the object’s SIZ as the opposing force for a resistance roll.
RADIATION CONTROL: With Radiation Control, your character can fill an area 1 SIZ point in size with radiation, or eliminate radiation in the same area. The nature of this radiation is up to you and must be approved by the gamemaster. When used against a living being, your character must defeat the target’s CON on the resistance table, vs. the super power’s level. The gamemaster may require an Agility or Grapple roll to touch the target. Radiation Control inflicts 1D6 points of damage per 10 levels of the power (rounded up) to the target. If your character wishes to attempt to use the power to cause radiation poisoning on an opponent (rather than the immediate attack described above), the level of the power must overcome the target’s CON + POW on the resistance table. See “Radiation” on page 23o for more information. This power can also be used to remove latent radioactivity from an area, with each level removing 1 point of the radiation’s potency (POT).
SOUND CONTROL: Your character can use Sound Control to affect 1 SIZ point of an object as it relates to sound, such as silencing it, increasing its volume, etc.
This power can also duplicate sonic or ultrasonic forms of sound. In combat, your character can create a cacoph-ony of painful sound energy, using the super power’s level opposed by the target’s CON on the resistance table. Success means that the target is stunned for 1D3 rounds (see “Stunning or Subduing” on page 232).
Additionally, for the duration of the stunned state, all of the target’s Listen checks become temporarily impossible and any mental skill checks are Difficult. For less offen-sive uses, your character can create phantom sounds that mimic existing sounds, transfer sound from one place to another (within range), and even duplicate any sound he or she has heard (use an Idea roll to determine how cor-rectly the sound is remembered). Sound Control can also be used to destroy inanimate objects, doing 1D6 points of damage per 10 levels (rounded up) to an object whose hit points or CON is overcome on the resistance table.
Sound Control can oppose itself as well as other sound-based attacks, such as Sound Projection (see page 156).
WIND CONTROL: Your character can control the wind, stirring air currents to incredible force, whether in a straight line or whirlwind. Though Wind Control does not cause hit points damage, it can be utilized in a
vari-ety of ways, from opposing foes’ movement in a particu-lar direction, holding a target in place in a vortex of wind, blowing something over, reducing the chance of missile weapons from being utilized successfully in the power’s range, creating a tornado in an enclosed area, filling a sail with wind, fanning a fire into an inferno, or blowing a fire out. Wind Control is not subtle, and the effects are often difficult to control. When this super power is used, use the levels in the power versus the tar-get’s SIZ or STR, where appropriate, on the resistance table. “Weather Conditions” on page 181 includes other effects that might be simulated using Wind Control.
OTHER ENERGY CONTROL: This category covers any undefined or new sort of Energy Control you and/or gamemaster may devise. The guidelines for the other types of Energy Control can be used to determine the parameters for new types of energy, with the following guidelines: 1 level equals 1 SIZ point of energy to be manipulated or generated; if appropriate, the power will do 1D6 points of damage per 10 levels of the power (rounded up); base range is 15 meters. When in doubt, determine a means by which the super power can be used on the resistance table.
COMBINED ENERGY CONTROL: Your character can combine these super powers if he or she pays the full amount for each Energy Control type. Each aspect of the power will have full effectiveness, though damage is rolled separately for each type, as the target may have different types of Absorption, Armor, Protection, or Resistance. Levels of combined Energy Control types do not have to be equivalent. All special effects for each Energy Control type are added onto this attack. For combined attacks, each use costs the full amount of power points required for the power.
You and the gamemaster should discuss further poten-tial uses for each energy type, though whenever the use of the super power duplicates another power exactly, that super power instead should be purchased.
This super power does not grant immunity to the energy type being used—instead, your character is immune to the initial release of the energy from his or her body, but is susceptible to any continuance of that energy type. You should purchase levels in Absorp-tion, Armor, ProtecAbsorp-tion, or Resistance against the rel-evant energy type.
For example, the costumed hero Firefly uses Heat Control 20 to send a massive pillar of flame up the chimney of a building she is trapped in, trying to signal her allies with a display of flame above the roof. If she inadvertently starts the building on fire and cannot escape or use her super power to control the flames, she could be burnt alive by a fire she started. Fortunately, she has Absorption (Heat) 20, so she should be all right.
Many of these energy types can be used to duplicate or mimic environmental effects, such as those described in Chapter Seven: Spot Rules.