Power Writeups

    This section describes the game mechanics of the power descriptions.  The powers and their associated Power Groups are listed in the preceeding Power Groups section and the powers themselves are individually described in their own sections.

The format used in describing a power is as follows:

Cloud Mind

Axioms: Social 20
Groups: Telepathy
Activation Difficulty: 16
Difficulty based on: Social 
Psi Strain: Effect Value
Base Effect Value: variable
Base Range: skill in meters
Base Duration: 5 (10 seconds)
Bonus Number to: Duration
Description: reduces target's Mind attribute

    Axiom requirements and groups were discussed in previous sections.  The remaining sections of the writeup are described below.
  1. Activation Difficulty
  2. Psi Strain
  3. Base Effect Value
  4. Base Range
  5. Base Duration
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Activation Difficulty

    The Base Difficulty of a Power is the Difficulty Number at the axiom level(s) specified in the Axioms line of the writeup. In many cases a character will have Difficulty Numbers for his powers that are not the same as the Base Difficulties.
    To begin with, the player looks at the Difficulty based on: line of the writeup and compares the appropriate axiom value of his character to the axiom requirement of the power. If the character has a higher axiom then the difference between the two is subtracted from the Base Difficulty.  If the character has a lower axiom then the difference is added to the Base Difficulty. Almost all powers will have their difficulties based on the Social axiom, except for the Kinesis powers which are based on the Tech axiom.

Example: a player decides to give his Core Earth psychic a new Power.  The Power chosen has a Base Difficulty of 16 and the next line indicates that it is based on Social. The power has a Social axiom requirement of 18. Since Core Earth's Social axiom is 21, the player subtracts (21 - 18) three points from the Base Difficulty for a new difficulty of 13.

Example: a second player decides to give his Akashan psychic the same power.  Because the Star Sphere's Social Axiom is 27, the second player subtracts (27 - 18) nine from the Base Difficulty for a new difficulty of 7.

Psi Strain

    The Psi Strain entry indicates what value(s) of the power you use to determine its psi strain rating during use. In most cases it will be the Effect Value, though some powers will use Range or a combination of Effect Value and Range instead. Some powers come with a minimum psi strain rating which will be indicated by an entry such as "8 + Effect Value".

Base Effect Value

    The inherient "strength" of the power.  It can be a weight value, a damage value, a defensive modifier, or any number of possible effects.  Most powers will not have a specified Effect Value and will read "variable".  What this means is that the character can set the Effect Value to whatever value he believes is required for the task at hand.  For example, a character who wanted to move a pencil across a desk with his Telekinesis III would only need an Effect Value of zero since the Effect Value determines the weight value that can be moved around, and one kilogram is more than enough to cover a pencil's weight.  But if he wanted to lift an automobile, he would need a much higher Effect Value.
    Similarly, a character using Thought Scan may assume that his target is sufficiently intelligent enough to have a high Mind attribute and would set his Effect Value high enough to overcome it.  An Effect Value of 13 would be sufficient to scan the thoughts of any normal human, but it may not be high enough to prevent them from detecting the scan so he chooses to go with an Effect Value of 16 to be certain of success and of avoiding detection.  But against someone of inferior intelligence, the Effect Value would not have to be as high and he can set it accordingly.
    In many cases the psi strain rating of using a power will be equal to its Effect Value, so setting the Effect Value too high can prove detrimental to a character's health.

Base Range

    This is the standard distance at which a power may be used. Most powers will base their range on the character's psionic manipulation skill in one way or another.  There are three general range categories for Powers: Skill Adds, Skill Value and Skill Measure:
  1. Skill Adds: The number of skill adds the character has in psionic manipulation indicate the number of meters (unless otherwise specified) the character has as the range of the power.  A character with +3 adds in psionic manipulation would have a range of three meters.
  2. Skill Value: The character's psionic manipulation skill value indicates the number of meters (unless otherwise specified) the character has as the range of the power.  A character with a psionic manipulation skill of 13 would have a range of 13 meters.
  3. Skill Measure: The character's psionic manipulation skill value is read on the Torg Value Chart and the measure is the range of the Power. A character with a psionic manipulation skill of 13 would have a range of 400 meters, the measure of a value of 13.
    Some Powers will  have a range modifier in the format of "skill value +N" where N is some number.  For these powers consider N to be like additional skill adds and figure the range as described above based on this effective number of skill adds.

Example: A character with +3 adds in psionic manipulation has a power with a Base Range of "skill adds +3".  The range of his power is then six meters instead of three meters.

Example: A character with a psionic manipulation skill value of 13 has a power with a Base Range of "skill value +3".  The range of this power is 16 meters instead of 13 meters.

Example: The same character has another power with a Base Range of "skill measure +3".  The range of this power is 1500 meters (measure of 16) instead of 400 meters (measure of 13).

Base Duration

    Duration indicates how often psi strain is assessed when a power is in use, not how long the power functions (this is a change from the Space Gods sourcebook.)  For most powers the base duration will be one round (ten seconds).  Except in a few cases a power can function for as long as the character is able to maintain it against the psi strain.  Some powers cannot be maintained though, in which case the Duration does indicate how long the power functions before it must be reactivated with a new psionics manipulation skill check.  Powers that operate in this fashion will be indicated in their writeups.
    Some powers will have the bonus number applied to the Duration. Any positive bonus number the player generates when activating the power gets added to the base duration. Except in certain situations a negative bonus number is ignored when determining the extended duration of a power, treat negative bonus numbers as a zero when determining the final duration.

Example: a player generates a +3 bonus value when using a power with a duration of 9 (one minute).  Adding the bonus to the duration value gives an extended duration value of 12 (four minutes).

Example: a player generates a -5 bonus value when using a power with a duration of 9 (one minute).  Because the bonus value is negative it is considered to be a zero for affecting the duration, so the character's power still has a duration value of 9. It is not reduced to a value of 4.

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