 |
In this section, there are three classes of people: humans, psychics and ghosts. Humans in this game are like people in real life. They are the normal, everyday person you might meet while on a walk or shopping. They range anywhere from a nagging woman to a playful child. They could be a wild punk teen with green hair or a tidy, gentle-hearted kindergarten teacher. All that matters when creating a human character is that they are human with human limitations. After that, it's on a case by case basis. The second type of humans are the psychics who are gifted people, like someone who does wonders with math or has a photographic memory. The thing to remember about creating these characters is that ALL psi gifts are rare, though some are more common than others. Another thing to know about psi is that any of these gifts might require training and practice to control it for the sake of the gifted and for those around them.
Listed below are the different types of psychic powers:
Telepathy / Empathy / Pyrokinesis / Telekinesis / Clairvoyance / Psychobiology / Psychometry / Precognition / Aura Vision / Aura Manipulation / Second Sight /Mediums/ Ghosts
Definition- the ability to read minds.
In Depth- A strong talent for mind reading is very rare. But the few that have the ability are able to read the minds of people with or without the same talent. The people that they cannot read are those who know how to block or those with natural shields. This ability also varies in degree. Those that are very powerful can read people's minds without touch, but the weaker ones must be in contact with the person they are reading. The weakest may only get the barest idea of what people are thinking, touching or not. They might see this as having good hunches and may never realize they are telepaths unless they are tested.
Drawbacks- Can become confused of their own identity or become overwhelmed by the thoughts around them.
Definition- The ability to feel another's emotions
In Depth- This ability is very similar to telepathy superficially. An empath is a person who is able to feel the emotions of a person or persons. They might feel these emotions as their own. Also, some empaths can project their own emotions to others. Again, this talent too varies with strength. For some, it is very vague emotions they pick up, touching or not. Like telepaths, they often simply view it as a hunch or good judgement. Others are so strong that they become physically ill with the strong emotions around them.
Drawbacks- The person can become physically exhausted or ill by strong negative emotions. Responses can be fueled by outside emotions. They might have panic attacks. The empaths that are able to project, without control, may cause riots, mass panic attacks, etc.
Definition- The ability to light an object on fire with one's mind.
In Depth- This ability is similar to telekinesis but works on the molecular level, speeding up molecules and manipulating them, raising the heat level until objects or creatures burst into flame. The people that have this gift are able to light objects on fire with their thoughts alone. The object has to be in their line of sight and within a block of their location. If they are well trained and powerful, they may be able to extend their powers a bit more, but not much.
When they set something to burn, it is as if that object were soaked in lighter fluid and things that are normally flame resistant are even susceptible. They are also able to light themselves on fire without burning. It is said that their aura protects them from the flames and that the fire is a very pale, almost white blue. The flames around them burn extremely hot and can melt a suit made for oil tanker fires which burn at 6,000 degrees.
The people with this power either have it or they don't, there is no real measure of stronger or weaker. As these people get older, they seem to lose the ability to control the fire that they can call and they spontaneously combust.
Drawbacks: Inadvertently lighting objects on fire in early
stages; earlier deaths from spontaneous combustion; limited physical range
of power. Definition- The ability to move things with one's mind.
Telekinesis, along with pyrokinesis, is among the rarest of talents if it is strong enough to be under conscious control. There are a lot of weak telekinetics out there, though most are not aware they have it. Many people that claim to be experiencing a poltergeist are actually witnessing a show of erratic displays of telekinesis by someone who is unaware of this ability. Telekinesis is another talent that some have to a greater or lesser ability. Some take a long time to master the ability to move a single salt shaker an inch, others can hold a sofa aloft without sweat. Drawbacks- Physical toll on many telekinetics, especially in the early stages of learning to control their talent; accidental breakage; young telekinetics have difficulty separating their emotions from physical expression via telekinesis. May go mis-diagnosed for a time as poltergeist. Definition- The ability to far see (i.e.: to see into another room without being in it), also known as "remote viewing."
In Depth- With this ability, one can see people and places that they have never seen or been to in their life just by concentrating on instructions or an object related to the subject. For instance, someone may ask a clairvoyant what the President's bedroom looks like at the White House. A claivoyant can describe everything in that room at that moment without ever stepping foot in it. Another good example are the people who help solve crimes for the police. The detectives on the case give the clairvoyant something belonging to the victim or the killer, and the clairvoyant, by concentrating, can tune in on the victim and help them locate the body, victim, or give a description of the killer and his location. Often the information they gain is vague, and symbolic. 'Near water' turns out to refer to a billboard for a water park, for instance. But the stronger ones are very accurate. There are levels of clairvoyance. For many people, there are only occasional incidents, usually involving close family members and heavy emotional stimuli (i.e., they see a person in a car accident halfway across the country). Some have frequent, accurate visions. Drawbacks- May not be able to control when they can see vision; they sometimes suffer headaches from attempting to suppress or trying too hard to receive a vision; depending on the strength of the vision the clairvoyant could be dangerously distracted at bad moments. Weak talent may not give enough or may give misleading information from incorrect interpretation. Definition- The ability to effect one's own body and another's with one's mind.
In Depth- This psi power enables people to mentally effect their own or someone else's body much like Zen masters and people who have a healing touch. The Zen masters' ability to slow or accelerate their metabolism or to speed healing is more the product of extensive mental conditioning. But since it is a mental ability, it is counted as a psi power. Also, faith healers fall under this category, though their power comes from God or some other diety, depending on their religion. Unlike normal psi healers, they don't always have to have medical knowledge because God is doing all the technical work. The healer is just a conduit for His power. This ability differs from magical based healers because their ability is innate, unlike the magic one which comes from the use of spells and ceremony. The people who are psi based healers are extremely rare. Most of the time, the ability to heal oneself or another person requires some kind of medical or physiology knowledge so that they understand first what is wrong and then how to fix the problem. A healer may also be able to sense that a person is sick and the problematic area. But again, without knowledge they may not be able to understand what they are sensing completely. Drawbacks- Without medical knowledge, one may accidentally cause more harm than good to a person or oneself. Definition- The ability to view an object's or person's
past by touching it. In Depth- Psychometry is much like Clairvoyance, except instead of reading the present, they are reading the past. A person with this psi ability can, by touching an object, read it's history. And like clairvoyance, it is useful to the police in criminal investigations. By touching a broken pane of glass, someone with a strong talent, can give police a description of the perpetrator. They have been known to use their power in dealing with antiques and in auction houses. Archaeologists and anthropologists, if they have this gift, may use it to confirm an object's history. For example they may ask; Is this a real Van Gogh or a great forgery? Is this a good place to find a hidden tomb of a Pharaoh?
Drawbacks- Inadvertent images from objects or people when it's not desired. To help with this, they could wear gloves, preferably silk ones, to block out the history of the objects they come into contact with. Weak talent may not give enough or misleading information from incorrect interpretation. Definition- The ability to foresee the future. In Depth- Many people have this ability to a small degree. It is usually described as woman's intuition or good hunches. Many people use tools to better use their natural talents, such as Tarot cards, runes, etc. The people with a greater, more prominent version of this gift may see visions which range from just visual to something like a movie with surround sound. But these visions are often highly symbolic and fragmentary and thus hard to interpret. Drawbacks- May remain uncontrolled as to when these visions manifest. May only occur in dreams. Depending on the strength of the vision the clairvoyant could be dangerously distracted at bad moments. Weak talent may not give enough or misleading information from incorrect interpretation.
Definition- The ability to see the auras of living beings. In Depth- Someone who can see the aura (energy/life force) that surrounds all living things be it plant or animal. This includes seeing auras of vampires (which was one argument for giving them rights under the law). These people can see them either by design or inadvertently. They can not manipulate nor pull on these auras, simply see them. Being able to see auras may allow a person to interpret another's intentions as either good or bad...or determine if the person is angry or happy, sick or well. This ability might be useful in medical professions, court, business dealings, police and counseling/therapy. Can also learn to use it to tell what a person is...i.e., vampire, lycanthrope, human. Drawbacks- Not an accurate science. Definition- The ability to manipulate the auras of living beings. This includes the person's own aura. In Depth- Someone who can manipulate the aura (life force) around a person, animal, or plant. These people both see and manipulate auras. They can draw on the aura of another to boost their own flagging strength, or push their aura to augment another's. They can bind their aura to another's, which might warn them of danger the other person is experiencing. A manipulator of auras may be able to make their own seem helpless/harmless, or magnify it to look like they are stronger. This ability might be useful in medical professions, in court, in business dealings, police work and counseling/therapy. Drawbacks- Some may not be able to manipulate their own aura; in the early learning stages, a person could accidentally feed their aura to another and leave themselves drained...rather like having a severe case of flu. Not a finely tuned ability with the exception of creatures such as the Shadow Walkers who use it as a part of their communication.
Definition- The ability to know something without any reasonable or logical explanation. In Depth- Second Sight is a combination of low level empathy, telepathy, precognition, and psychometry. It is very difficult to diagnose because it is so low level and it shows symptoms from unrelated abilities. The overall effect, though, is a paranormal level of knowledge concerning the person's surroundings or life. Usually, the person will have one ability be stronger than the others. For instance, someone with Second Sight could have good hunches about everything but they have more intuitions about the near future than flashbacks about an object or person.
Drawbacks- Can't be actively controlled, not a strong talent such as being a major telepath plus the rest. Definition- the ability to communicate with the dead/awareness of the dead.
In Depth- Mediums are people who see, hear, feel the presence of the dead and are able to communicate with them. To what extent they are able to do this depends on how receptive the medium is. Some people never get any more than a creepy feeling along the back of their neck, goose bumps, or an unexpected glance out of the corner of their eye. Then there are those with such a powerful gift that the dead seem as life-like as the living.
Draw Backs- Mediums are unable to turn off this ability and there really isn't anything they can learn to control. They are often at the mercy of the ghosts and can be driven to distraction at the wrong time which could be hazardous.
Like anything, there are drawbacks to psi talents. They can range from harmless, but annoying, such as seeing an aura with no consequences, to accidentally setting your homework on fire. Control is the key on all and should be learned or life becomes difficult if not downright dangerous to the psi and those around them.
And finally, the third type of humans are ghosts, though ghosts can also include vampires, weres, mages, etc... Ghosts are people that have passed on but either don't know they are dead or they believe they have some unfinished business. All that is required to write a ghost is that the character is dead and is created with the limitations of that state.
Since everyone is unique in life, so they are in death. There are different types of spirits, such as silent ghosts who only appear to the living without making any sounds. Others may only be sounds, like footsteps walking up and down the halls in a haunted house. And then there are the kind that are so life like that the only way to tell they are ghosts is that you can see right through them! There are benevolent spirits who want to help the living and then there are those who resent the living and are, well, grouchy. Some ghosts haunt places, others haunt objects and then there are some that haunt people, though they are rare. Most of the time, a person becomes a ghost when they die suddenly or traumatically and they become confused. They either think they are still alive, or they lose their way to where ever ghosts go. Others don't want to cross over because they don't want to let go of what they had or they want to stay with the people they left behind. Ghosts who stay on by choice are aware that they are ghosts, and have more control over their powers and their ability to manifest. They appear solid, alive, and can even move small objects, as well as communicate to the living. These are rare though, and usually have a good reason for hanging around--to protect their family, to guard something, etc.
As for what ghosts are capable of, let's just say, they are pretty limited. For most, they can't effect the physical world too severely, with a few exceptions such as a poltergeist. A person who was a necromancer in life loses that ability in death. They can't call the dead. So a ghost can't control another ghost or raise the dead. Much of their power is derived from their emotions and personality since that is all that they are now. Like mentioned above, ghosts are very unique just like the people they were in life. The limitations on how far they can travel away from the place or object depends on the ghost. Some will follow a person or family and others are seemingly stuck in a never ending repetition where they don't know they can leave their haunting place. It all depends on the ghost itself.
And that covers the human's section of the rules. If there are any questions on a potential character that you are not sure about, please contactFox
at thezoo@foothill.net.
Psychometry is a power that someone would have to a greater or lesser ability. Much like clairvoyants, the strong ones will be able to discern great detail, while the weaker ones will only have vague glimpses. It is also helpful if the power is exceptionally strong or a person doesn't know how to control it, that they wear gloves, preferably silk ones, to block out the history of the objects they come into contact with.
The difference between a medium and a necromancer is that a medium cannot in any way control the dead. They may ask that the ghost speak to them, or let themselves be noticed but they cannot force them Often times, the medium is heavily influenced by the spirits instead of the other way around.
This page maintained by: The Web Master
