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Because I love you all. NOW WORSHIP ME! Here we go!
This is a rough first draft, mind. The general idea has been there for a while but I haven't sat down to write any of it up until now. So, some things will need revising, as a lot of this is off the cuff, "Hey, I think an Advanced Merit of that particular Merit would be cool, what kind of effects would it have?" That's sort of the fun in creation, though, right? Let me know what you think!
Also, other Merits will surely follow. This isn't a complete list, just a start.
Biokinesis (Advanced, • to •••••)
Prerequisites: Stamina ••••, Resolve •••, Biokinesis •••••
Effect: Your character's psychic control over her body reaches beyond the physical limits of humanity. When using Biokinesis, the character doesn't need to "shift" Attribute dots, but instead simply divides a number of dots equal her rating in this Merit between her Physical Attributes. This increase can take Attributes beyond the mortal limit of 5, but doing so reduces the duration to 15 minutes. Using such powerful psychic energies to alter the body is draining; this function can only be used once per scene without penalty. Attempting to do so again without at least a few hours of rest causes 1 resistant bashing damage per dot of boosted Attributes (this damage cannot be healed by supernatural methods and heals at its normal rate, rather than half).
Additionally, the character's heightened healing abilities increase further. She heals one bashing damage per turn. If the character spends Willpower, she can heal 1 lethal damage that turn instead, or downgrade one level of aggravated damage to lethal.
Laying on Hands (Advanced, • to •••••)
Prerequisites: Composure •••, Laying on Hands •••
Effect: The strength of your healing psychic energy is so great that you can cast out injury and infirmity entirely. You no longer suffer bashing damage when healing minor injuries. For each dot in this Merit, you may ignore up to one point of lethal or aggravated damage your character would take on by healing others per scene. This also applies to diseases and poisons. Subtract the character's dots in this Merit from the severity of any ailment to determine whether or not it will affect her.
Medium (Advanced, •••)
Prerequisites: Empathy •••, Medium •••
Effect: When your character performs a ritual to create an Anchor Condition, she may spend a Willpower point to make the Anchor permanent. She may also spend a point of Willpower and make a Presence + Occult roll to destroy a ghost's Anchor, contested by the ghost's Resistance + Rank. Success shatters the ghost's Anchor instantly.
Medium (Epic, • to •••••)
Prerequisites: Empathy •••, Medium (Advanced) •••
Effect: The medium has become a lord of ghosts, a beacon of both understanding and power over the restless spirits of the dead. Each dot in this Merit grants the character an honorary Rank among ghosts. She adds this Rank to any rolls she makes to contest the powers of the undead. It also allows her to physically interact with ghostly beings and objects, and her unarmed attacks count as a ghost's Bane if her effective Rank is two or more higher than the ghost's Rank. This works only one way, however; even high-Rank ghosts do not naturally have the ability to touch the medium unless she wills it. Additionally, when she destroys a ghost's last Anchor, the ghost must make a Power + Resistance roll, penalized by the character's honorary Rank. If it fails, an Avernian gateway immediately opens up to claim the ghost.
Drawback: Your character is transformed by such a strong connection to the dead. She suffers a penalty on Social rolls with the living made to charm, carouse, or persuade by friendly means, and on all Animal Ken rolls equal to her dots in this Merit. Normal people instinctively sense the aura of frightful death about her, or perhaps her appearance has changed in some noticeably creepy fashion.
Phantasmal Hand (• to •••, Style)
Prerequisites: Presence •••, Occult ••, Medium (Epic) •
You can summon phantasmal objects and even low-Rank ghosts to aid your actions in battle. At first you can shield yourself in ephemeral Twilight energies, but eventually you can enhance your blows with the life-sapping cold of the grave.
Memories of Dust (•): Add half your Occult (rounded down) to your Defense against Close Range attacks made by living targets, as you pull ghostly objects or nearby ghostly echoes to sap a little of the attack's vital energies. This maneuver relies on your Defense being available, but does not apply during a Dodge.
Grave Shroud (••): Your body is capable of fading into wraith-like shadow in response to an attack, becoming partially incorporeal like the Twilight state of ghosts. The force of the attack seems to pass through you as though you were but a phantom. You may spend 1 Willpower ignore a number of bashing damage from an attack, or downgrade a number of lethal from a single attack, equal to your dots in this Merit.
Touch of the Grave (•••): You may spend a point of Willpower to have your unarmed attacks function at Short Range for a turn. This manifests as phantom skeletal hands and ghostly echoes lashing out at your foes. With each successful attack against a living target, you may choose to do half damage in order to drain a point of Willpower from the victim. If your target has no Willpower remaining, he instead suffers a cumulative -1 penalty per attack to Defense and Initiative as his limbs go cold and numb, leaden with the creeping approach of death.
Drawback: This maneuver is incompatible with any other maneuvers that affect unarmed damage. The character may only inflict her normal bashing damage with Touch of the Grave.
Psychokinesis (Advanced, • to •••••)
Prerequisites: Resolve ••••, Psychokinesis •••••
Effect: Your character's mastery over fundamental forces has grown to incredible levels. Add her dots in this Merit to Resolve + Occult rolls made to activate a form of Psychokinesis. In addition, when she manifests the elemental force, its starting Size is equal to her dots in this Merit or Resolve, whichever is higher. Once manifested, the character may manipulate a force without spending further Willpower, using her rating in this Merit as automatic successes. Note that continued attacks with this Merit require directing the force at a target, with a Dexterity + Occult roll as an instant action. The target's Defense applies to this roll.
Psychokinesis (Epic, •• or ••••)
Prerequisites: Resolve •••••, Psychokinesis (Advanced) ••••
Effect: The gods once wielded elemental powers to transform the world. Your power now rivals theirs. With the two-dot version, when your character manifests psychokinetic force, its base Size is equal to (Resolve) x 10. At the four-dot version, the power affects an area with a radius of half the character's Resolve in miles, rather than mere yards. This may cause Extreme Environments at a level equal to this Merit (such as freezing cold or city-scorching firestorms).
Drawback: Using the four-dot version of this ability renders it impossible to shape the unleashed psychokinetic energies on a large scale. She cannot increase or decrease the area of manifestation, nor can she attack directly with it. She can attempt to shape a patch of Size equal to (Resolve) x 10. Use of this level of power is not selective, and the sweeping elemental forces do not distinguish between intended and unintended targets. Everything is collateral damage. Using this ability also causes lethal damage to the user equal to the dots in this Merit.
Telekinesis (Advanced, • to •••••)
Prerequisites: Resolve •••, Occult ••, Telekinesis (equal or higher level)
Effect: Many long nights of practice have given your character an advanced control over her Telekinesis. She may add her dots in this Merit to the effective Strength granted by Telekinesis, or to its effective Dexterity, allowing her to perform feats of fine manipulation.
Telekinesis (Epic, • to •••••)
Prerequisites: Resolve •••, Occult •••, Telekinesis (Advanced, equal or higher level)
Effect: Your character's psychic powers can shatter objects from within or even rearrange their atomic structures. When your character makes a telekinetic attack against an object, ignore an amount of its Durability equal to her dots in this Merit. Instead, she may reshape an object with a Size up to her rating in this Merit into something of equal Size (or several smaller objects with total Size equal to its original Size). This may require a roll, typically Intelligence + an appropriate Skill to create a functional object. Reshaping a server tower into an industrial cooling unit might use Intelligence + Computers, or transforming a toolbox into a Kevlar vest might use Intelligence + Craft, instead. If the character is trying to change a simple item into a more complex one with moving parts (such as a baseball bat into a shotgun), reduce the maximum possible Size of the final item by 1. For example, she couldn't transform a baseball bat into a shotgun (as both are Size 2), but she could turn it into a fully functional pistol (Size 1).
Telekinetic Mastery (• to •••••, Style)
Prerequisites: Telekinesis •••, Resolve •••, Occult •••
You have refined your telekinesis beyond the limits most psychics face. Mastery has brought with it greater power—sometimes at greater cost.
Focused Telekinesis (•): The psychic no longer needs to spend Willpower for each telekinetic attack. Instead, spending 1 Willpower to activate Telekinesis for the scene allows her to attack freely with it (including spending further Willpower on enhancing the attack dice pool or making overpower maneuvers).
Rending Mind (••): Your character's telekinetic attacks can crack bones and mangle flesh. If she chooses, her telekinetic attacks count as weapons with a damage rating equal to half her dots in this Merit (round up).
Telekinetic Shield (•••): In lieu of attacking, your character can bring her telekinesis to bear warding away physical sources of attack. By taking an instant action to focus and spending 1 Willpower, she gains general armor equal to her dots in Telekinesis, and ballistic armor equal to half that value (round up). Even when not spending Willpower on this ability, she gains a 1/0 armor rating as she begins to reflexively shield herself from common sources of harm.
Force of Mind (••••): When your character spends Willpower to enhance a telekinetic attack, she may add her Resolve as a bonus to the dice pool instead of the usual +3.
Telekinetic Storm (•••••): This power unleashes the full power of your character's telekinesis in a devastating aura. Her psychic power sweeps up nearby debris, loose objects, or rips weakly anchored objects from their place of rest, and spins them about in a telekinetic tornado. Using this ability requires 1 point of Willpower and lasts until her next turn. As long as she has her Defense available and is not Dodging, any character within 10 yards takes bashing damage equal to the character's telekinetic damage rating (3). By choosing to suffer 1 lethal damage herself, the damage created by this effect becomes lethal until her next turn. Anyone entering the area takes damage and continues to do so automatically as long as they stay within range and the psychic maintains the effect (which costs Willpower each turn).
This is a rough first draft, mind. The general idea has been there for a while but I haven't sat down to write any of it up until now. So, some things will need revising, as a lot of this is off the cuff, "Hey, I think an Advanced Merit of that particular Merit would be cool, what kind of effects would it have?" That's sort of the fun in creation, though, right? Let me know what you think!
Also, other Merits will surely follow. This isn't a complete list, just a start.
Biokinesis (Advanced, • to •••••)
Prerequisites: Stamina ••••, Resolve •••, Biokinesis •••••
Effect: Your character's psychic control over her body reaches beyond the physical limits of humanity. When using Biokinesis, the character doesn't need to "shift" Attribute dots, but instead simply divides a number of dots equal her rating in this Merit between her Physical Attributes. This increase can take Attributes beyond the mortal limit of 5, but doing so reduces the duration to 15 minutes. Using such powerful psychic energies to alter the body is draining; this function can only be used once per scene without penalty. Attempting to do so again without at least a few hours of rest causes 1 resistant bashing damage per dot of boosted Attributes (this damage cannot be healed by supernatural methods and heals at its normal rate, rather than half).
Additionally, the character's heightened healing abilities increase further. She heals one bashing damage per turn. If the character spends Willpower, she can heal 1 lethal damage that turn instead, or downgrade one level of aggravated damage to lethal.
Laying on Hands (Advanced, • to •••••)
Prerequisites: Composure •••, Laying on Hands •••
Effect: The strength of your healing psychic energy is so great that you can cast out injury and infirmity entirely. You no longer suffer bashing damage when healing minor injuries. For each dot in this Merit, you may ignore up to one point of lethal or aggravated damage your character would take on by healing others per scene. This also applies to diseases and poisons. Subtract the character's dots in this Merit from the severity of any ailment to determine whether or not it will affect her.
Medium (Advanced, •••)
Prerequisites: Empathy •••, Medium •••
Effect: When your character performs a ritual to create an Anchor Condition, she may spend a Willpower point to make the Anchor permanent. She may also spend a point of Willpower and make a Presence + Occult roll to destroy a ghost's Anchor, contested by the ghost's Resistance + Rank. Success shatters the ghost's Anchor instantly.
Medium (Epic, • to •••••)
Prerequisites: Empathy •••, Medium (Advanced) •••
Effect: The medium has become a lord of ghosts, a beacon of both understanding and power over the restless spirits of the dead. Each dot in this Merit grants the character an honorary Rank among ghosts. She adds this Rank to any rolls she makes to contest the powers of the undead. It also allows her to physically interact with ghostly beings and objects, and her unarmed attacks count as a ghost's Bane if her effective Rank is two or more higher than the ghost's Rank. This works only one way, however; even high-Rank ghosts do not naturally have the ability to touch the medium unless she wills it. Additionally, when she destroys a ghost's last Anchor, the ghost must make a Power + Resistance roll, penalized by the character's honorary Rank. If it fails, an Avernian gateway immediately opens up to claim the ghost.
Drawback: Your character is transformed by such a strong connection to the dead. She suffers a penalty on Social rolls with the living made to charm, carouse, or persuade by friendly means, and on all Animal Ken rolls equal to her dots in this Merit. Normal people instinctively sense the aura of frightful death about her, or perhaps her appearance has changed in some noticeably creepy fashion.
Phantasmal Hand (• to •••, Style)
Prerequisites: Presence •••, Occult ••, Medium (Epic) •
You can summon phantasmal objects and even low-Rank ghosts to aid your actions in battle. At first you can shield yourself in ephemeral Twilight energies, but eventually you can enhance your blows with the life-sapping cold of the grave.
Memories of Dust (•): Add half your Occult (rounded down) to your Defense against Close Range attacks made by living targets, as you pull ghostly objects or nearby ghostly echoes to sap a little of the attack's vital energies. This maneuver relies on your Defense being available, but does not apply during a Dodge.
Grave Shroud (••): Your body is capable of fading into wraith-like shadow in response to an attack, becoming partially incorporeal like the Twilight state of ghosts. The force of the attack seems to pass through you as though you were but a phantom. You may spend 1 Willpower ignore a number of bashing damage from an attack, or downgrade a number of lethal from a single attack, equal to your dots in this Merit.
Touch of the Grave (•••): You may spend a point of Willpower to have your unarmed attacks function at Short Range for a turn. This manifests as phantom skeletal hands and ghostly echoes lashing out at your foes. With each successful attack against a living target, you may choose to do half damage in order to drain a point of Willpower from the victim. If your target has no Willpower remaining, he instead suffers a cumulative -1 penalty per attack to Defense and Initiative as his limbs go cold and numb, leaden with the creeping approach of death.
Drawback: This maneuver is incompatible with any other maneuvers that affect unarmed damage. The character may only inflict her normal bashing damage with Touch of the Grave.
Psychokinesis (Advanced, • to •••••)
Prerequisites: Resolve ••••, Psychokinesis •••••
Effect: Your character's mastery over fundamental forces has grown to incredible levels. Add her dots in this Merit to Resolve + Occult rolls made to activate a form of Psychokinesis. In addition, when she manifests the elemental force, its starting Size is equal to her dots in this Merit or Resolve, whichever is higher. Once manifested, the character may manipulate a force without spending further Willpower, using her rating in this Merit as automatic successes. Note that continued attacks with this Merit require directing the force at a target, with a Dexterity + Occult roll as an instant action. The target's Defense applies to this roll.
Psychokinesis (Epic, •• or ••••)
Prerequisites: Resolve •••••, Psychokinesis (Advanced) ••••
Effect: The gods once wielded elemental powers to transform the world. Your power now rivals theirs. With the two-dot version, when your character manifests psychokinetic force, its base Size is equal to (Resolve) x 10. At the four-dot version, the power affects an area with a radius of half the character's Resolve in miles, rather than mere yards. This may cause Extreme Environments at a level equal to this Merit (such as freezing cold or city-scorching firestorms).
Drawback: Using the four-dot version of this ability renders it impossible to shape the unleashed psychokinetic energies on a large scale. She cannot increase or decrease the area of manifestation, nor can she attack directly with it. She can attempt to shape a patch of Size equal to (Resolve) x 10. Use of this level of power is not selective, and the sweeping elemental forces do not distinguish between intended and unintended targets. Everything is collateral damage. Using this ability also causes lethal damage to the user equal to the dots in this Merit.
Telekinesis (Advanced, • to •••••)
Prerequisites: Resolve •••, Occult ••, Telekinesis (equal or higher level)
Effect: Many long nights of practice have given your character an advanced control over her Telekinesis. She may add her dots in this Merit to the effective Strength granted by Telekinesis, or to its effective Dexterity, allowing her to perform feats of fine manipulation.
Telekinesis (Epic, • to •••••)
Prerequisites: Resolve •••, Occult •••, Telekinesis (Advanced, equal or higher level)
Effect: Your character's psychic powers can shatter objects from within or even rearrange their atomic structures. When your character makes a telekinetic attack against an object, ignore an amount of its Durability equal to her dots in this Merit. Instead, she may reshape an object with a Size up to her rating in this Merit into something of equal Size (or several smaller objects with total Size equal to its original Size). This may require a roll, typically Intelligence + an appropriate Skill to create a functional object. Reshaping a server tower into an industrial cooling unit might use Intelligence + Computers, or transforming a toolbox into a Kevlar vest might use Intelligence + Craft, instead. If the character is trying to change a simple item into a more complex one with moving parts (such as a baseball bat into a shotgun), reduce the maximum possible Size of the final item by 1. For example, she couldn't transform a baseball bat into a shotgun (as both are Size 2), but she could turn it into a fully functional pistol (Size 1).
Telekinetic Mastery (• to •••••, Style)
Prerequisites: Telekinesis •••, Resolve •••, Occult •••
You have refined your telekinesis beyond the limits most psychics face. Mastery has brought with it greater power—sometimes at greater cost.
Focused Telekinesis (•): The psychic no longer needs to spend Willpower for each telekinetic attack. Instead, spending 1 Willpower to activate Telekinesis for the scene allows her to attack freely with it (including spending further Willpower on enhancing the attack dice pool or making overpower maneuvers).
Rending Mind (••): Your character's telekinetic attacks can crack bones and mangle flesh. If she chooses, her telekinetic attacks count as weapons with a damage rating equal to half her dots in this Merit (round up).
Telekinetic Shield (•••): In lieu of attacking, your character can bring her telekinesis to bear warding away physical sources of attack. By taking an instant action to focus and spending 1 Willpower, she gains general armor equal to her dots in Telekinesis, and ballistic armor equal to half that value (round up). Even when not spending Willpower on this ability, she gains a 1/0 armor rating as she begins to reflexively shield herself from common sources of harm.
Force of Mind (••••): When your character spends Willpower to enhance a telekinetic attack, she may add her Resolve as a bonus to the dice pool instead of the usual +3.
Telekinetic Storm (•••••): This power unleashes the full power of your character's telekinesis in a devastating aura. Her psychic power sweeps up nearby debris, loose objects, or rips weakly anchored objects from their place of rest, and spins them about in a telekinetic tornado. Using this ability requires 1 point of Willpower and lasts until her next turn. As long as she has her Defense available and is not Dodging, any character within 10 yards takes bashing damage equal to the character's telekinetic damage rating (3). By choosing to suffer 1 lethal damage herself, the damage created by this effect becomes lethal until her next turn. Anyone entering the area takes damage and continues to do so automatically as long as they stay within range and the psychic maintains the effect (which costs Willpower each turn).
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