Numina

Numina

AlchemyAnimal PsychicsAnti-PsychicAstral ProjectionBiocontrolChannelingClairvoyanceConjurationConveyanceCyberkinesisCyberpathyDivinationEctoplasmic GenerationEmpathic HealingEnchantmentFascinationFortuneGauntlet ManipulationHealingHellfireMana ManipulationMind ShieldsOneiromancyPrecognitionPsychic HealingPsychic HypnosisPsychic InvisibilityPsychic VampirismPsychokinesisPsychometryPsychoportationPyrokinesisShadowcastingShadowsShapeshiftingSoulstealingSpirit AwakeningSpirit CommandSummoning/Binding/WardingSummon NaturaeSynergyTelekinesisTelepathyVia-geniorumVia-ignisVia-medicamentiVia-necromantiaeVia-oraculiWeather Control

Astral Projection

Levels • The Psychic has a rudimentary awareness of the astral plane, though she cannot yet travel to it. She can shift her senses toward the astral realm, where she can see astral travelers and communicate with them. She must first concentrate for a turn to allow her mind to adjust to the competing images, after which the Psychic sees the astral realm overlaid upon the normal physical world. •• With the expenditure of a Willpower point and a successful Perception + Awareness roll (difficulty 8) by her player, the Psychic can leave her body for brief periods of time and travel to the astral realm. Each success on the activation roll allows one minute of astral travel. If the Psychic wishes to push herself, her player may spend a Willpower point to extend the character’s time by an additional minute. When this time has elapsed, the Psychic snaps back to her physical body, unless something strange and dire has happened. ••• With the expenditure of a Willpower point by her player, the Psychic can manifest her astral form in the material world. In this manner, a Psychic can manifest on the other side of the world from where her physical body resides, using the great speed of astral travel to visit faraway locales in the form of thought. An astral traveler appears as a blurry and translucent ghost version of her usual physical appearance. A manifest astral traveler cannot touch or affect the material world, but she can be seen by non-Psychics and may speak in soft whispers. •••• At this level of prowess, the Psychic may travel deep into the astral plane for lengthy periods of time. With the expenditure of a Willpower point and a successful Perception + Awareness roll (difficulty 8) by her player, the Psychic can visit the astral realm for one hour per success. If the Psychic wishes to push herself, her player may spend a Willpower point to extend the character’s time by an additional hour. ••••• With the expenditure of a Willpower point and a successful Manipulation + Awareness roll (difficulty 8) by her player, a Psychic can mask her presence in the astral plane (including her silver cord) from other astral travelers. Suspicious rival Psychics and native astral entities might sense the presence of something strange, at the Storyteller’s discretion, but they won’t be able to identify the source of the irritation unless their players achieve more successes on a Perception + Awareness roll than the activation roll made for the hidden astral traveler.

Cyberkinesis

Computers were once the sequestered tools of wealthy corporations and the academic elite, but advances in technology gradually made them affordable to the rest of the world. Tonight, innumerable residents of the World of Darkness have mobile devices in their pockets that are more powerful than the early computers that took mankind to the moon. Indeed, there are now more laptops, cell phones, and personal electronic devices than there are people in the world, and their invisible signals blanket the air, saturating the night with numinous data. Cyberkinesis is the ability to read, understand, and control these electronic devices without a direct interface. Scattered reports of this relatively new Numina Path first appeared in the late 80s; as the public consciousness came to accept computers, more and more Psychics developed this talent. Vampires fear these cyberkinetics, who wield power over the technology the undead use, and who are able to read their emails from a distance and track them via the GPS on their smart phones. For more information on computers, see pages 263264 of V20. System Roll: Manipulation + Technology (difficulty 7) Modifiers: N/A Cost: Varies Duration: Generally instantaneous

Cyberkinesis Levels • This level of Cyberkinesis allows the cyberkinetic to project his perceptions into an electronic device, enabling an understanding of its purpose, the principles of its functioning, and its means of operation. The cyberkinetic must touch the device, and his player must succeed at the activation roll. The number of successes on that roll indicates how well the cyberkinetic understands the device, from a general grasp (one success) to a holistic understanding of it, its processor architecture, its power supplies, and its data structures (five successes).

•• The cyberkinetic has an innate understanding of the weaknesses of electronic devices. Just by touching a device, he can force its power supply to surge, causing interruption or even destroying the device. It only requires his player to spend a Willpower point and succeed on the activation roll. This power cannot be used to directly damage a person (though the destruction of a car’s fuel injection control chip can potentially later cause a serious car crash, for example). The number of successes achieved on the activation roll determines the degree of damage done to the device. A single success results in a brownout but leaves the device unharmed. Three successes shut the device down, requiring a manual or remote restart. Five successes indicate a total shutdown and a burnt-out power supply that must be replaced before powering on again is possible. Note that many complex computer systems, such as large-scale networks and remote clouds, can’t be shut down entirely by the failure of a single device.

••• The cyberkinetic can telepathically read, encrypt, and decrypt electronic communication with amazing speed and accuracy. With a successful activation roll made by his player, the Psychic may access, encrypt, or decrypt (but not change) any data saved on a device merely by touching it. If the cyberkinetic encrypts the data, the number of successes achieved on the activation roll is applied as a penalty to the difficulty of anyone else attempting to read said data. For more information on computer use and information storage, see page 264 of V20.

•••• The cyberkinetic can mentally access any devices within his line of sight. This is not a form of telekinesis in which the Psychic is wielding the controls. Rather, the cyberkinetic accesses the device by using a psychic version of radio waves similar to WiFi to infiltrate the device and control it from within. When connected to a device via this power, the cyberkinetic can employ any of the other levels of Cyberkinesis without having to make physical contact.

••••• Through his player spending a Willpower point and succeeding at the activation roll, the cyberkinetic can operate any computer or computer-assisted device he touches or has accessed via sight (as above). The cyberkinetic can activate any function of the device: running apps, browsing files, sending data to networks, opening a mechanical lock, etc. Note that any advanced or secure functions will have to be resolved via other methods, whether in the form of other applications of Cyberkinesis or just simply knowing the password. Each success on the activation roll allows for 10 minutes of control over the targeted device. Devices that are taken out of eyesight range or physical contact, as appropriate, simply disconnect from the cyberkinetic. If the device is destroyed while being controlled, the cyberkinetic suffers five levels of bashing damage as synaptic shock.

Psychometry

Some parapsychologists theorize that emotions are expressed by the human brain as a form of energy that can be absorbed by objects or places. Psychometry is the ability to read this emotional residue, called psychic resonance, and then interpret it and extrapolate information about the events and people connected to the object. Strong emotions linger, and they can be read by those with the special perception to feel and understand the psychic imprint. Places or objects exposed to these strong emotional signatures hold flashes of information that a psychometrist can read by touch. The Psychic must touch the object, and then her player must make a Perception + Empathy roll (difficulty 7) for the character to read its psychic resonance. Successes achieved on the activation roll determine the level of details received as per the effects chart, below. On a botch, the Psychic may become lost in a dreamlike reverie or may be harrowed by a flood of hostile emotions. An object with a particularly strong resonance may make it easier to find information about its owner, and the Storyteller may elect to lower the difficulty of roll to do so. Although a toothbrush may have DNA from its owner, for example, it is unlikely to be significant since it is thrown out every three months. A locket with a family photo, on the other hand, is likely to be much more important to its owner. The information discovered will depend on how the owner feels about the object and what it might mean to him. A wedding ring might reveal the location of the owner or flash to instances of the owner violating his wedding vows. System Roll: Perception + Empathy (difficulty 7) Modifiers: Per the significance of the item or the severity of the psychic resonance, as described above Cost: 1 Willpower Duration: Generally N/A, but higher levels yield ten minutes or one hour per success for an active connection

Psychometry Levels • The Psychic may read the psychic resonance of an object or place to learn about the identity of the owner of the object or the most significant visitor to the place. •• The Psychic may learn about everything that occurred near the object or place within the last 24 hours. ••• The Psychic can discover and understand the complete history of the object or place. She can witness key events that occurred in the vicinity of the object or place. •••• The Psychic can attune herself to an object, allowing her to align her vision to the location of the owner of the object. She can then watch the owner of the object anywhere in the world for 10 minutes per success on the activation roll (as influenced by the effects below). ••••• The Psychic may follow the psychic resonance to the owner of an object. She then learns the direction and distance of the owner of the object, anywhere in the physical or astral world (informed by the clarity of the effects, as indicated below). This connection lasts for an hour per success on the activation roll. Effects The number of successes achieved on the Psychometry activation roll determines the clarity of the information the Psychic receives.

One success The Psychic feels vague impressions and perceives cloudy imagery, but these lack concrete details. Two successes The details are blurry, as though viewing them via a poorly scrambled television signal. A Psychic might see a man with dark hair, but not his specific eye color or other details. Three successes The Psychic perceives the information as if from a distant vantage. Most of the details are difficult to discern, but others stand out in sharp clarity. Five successes Four successes The Psychic receives a detailed view of the people, places, and events associated with the vision. She may speed up or slow down events. If she concentrates, she can pause things as though watching a movie and study the scenario. The Psychic has complete and utter control over her visions. She can stop, start, review, and observe from any angle.

Pyrokinesis

Pyrokinesis is the ability to conjure fire via a glance. The pyrokinetic must see his target and then concentrate to conjure flame at that location. The number of successes on the activation roll determines the accuracy of where the Psychic places the flame. If the target is a sentient creature, she may attempt to dodge the blast with an opposed Dexterity + Athletics roll against the number of successes on the activation roll. Fire conjured by the Path of Pyrokinesis must be released for it to have any effect. Thus, the pyrokinetic might summon forth a palm of flame, but so long as he holds it, he suffers no damage, and the fire casts no light other than being itself visible. Once the flame has been released, however, it burns normally, and the Psychic has no control over it. A pyrokinetic is not immune to his own flame once it is released; he burns as easily as anyone else. Botches with Pyrokinesis tend to be singularly spectacular, as the Psychic self immolates or sends flame shooting wildly about. The Storyteller may increase the difficulty of the activation roll given any circumstances affecting the target of the flame. Setting fire to a wet log, for example, would indicate an increase of +1 to the difficulty, while igniting asbestos or water would increase the difficulty by 3. Psychics with Pyrokinesis often live with the constant fear that their control will slip and fire will consume everything around them. Indeed, some pyrokinetics have woken to discover that they have set fire to their homes during particularly violent nightmares. System Roll: Manipulation + Awareness Modifiers: By target, as above Cost: 1 Willpower Duration: Once ignited, pyrokinetic fire becomes normal fire, and it behaves as described on page 297 of V20

Pyrokinesis Levels • Candle (difficulty 3 to soak, one health level of aggravated damage per turn) •• Palm of Flame (difficulty 4 to soak, one health level of aggravated damage per turn) ••• Campfire (difficulty 5 to soak, two health levels of aggravated damage per turn) •••• Bonfire (difficulty 7 to soak, two health levels of Aggravated damage per turn) ••••• Inferno (difficulty 9 to soak, three health levels of Aggravated damage per turn)

Telekinesis

Telekinesis is the ability to move things without touch, solely though the power of the mind. Objects under the Psychic’s telekinetic control may be manipulated as though she were personally holding them: They may be lifted, spun, juggled, and even thrown. Some Psychics, ignorant of their special abilities, unknowingly unleash their telekinetic power, evoking the poltergeist phenomena of many of hauntings. A Psychic must be able to see her target and then concentrate to manipulate the object. Each success on the activation roll allows for one turn of telekinetic manipulation of an object. Five or more successes on the activation roll means that the Psychic can control the object for the duration of the scene. The Psychic may attempt to maintain control after her period of control ceases. Doing so requires a new activation roll without the expenditure of an additional Willpower point. Failure means that the Psychic must make a completely new attempt the following turn. A botch means that the Psychic loses control and exhausts herself for the scene, her player being unable to spend Willpower for the character for its remainder. If this power is being used to manipulate a sentient being, the player of the target may attempt for his character to resist through an opposed Willpower roll each turn the control is exercised. If the Psychic has mastered the fourth level of this Path, she can completely immobilize the target should the opposed Willpower roll succeed. If the Psychic attempts to wrest an object from someone’s grasp, this requires a contested roll pitting the telekinetic’s psychic strength versus the target’s Strength Attribute. Thrown objects may be dodged by an opposed Dexterity + Athletics versus the successes generated from the initial activation roll. Damage done from thrown objects is bashing or lethal (depending on the object thrown and Storyteller discretion), and it can be modulated by the Psychic up to her level of mastery of Telekinesis. For example, a Psychic with three levels of Telekinesis wishes to throw a rock at her enemy. The Storyteller decides that a rock does bashing damage. The player may decide to do up to three levels of bashing damage to the Psychic’s enemy should she succeed on the roll, assuming the target is unable to dodge. System Roll: Wits + Awareness Modifiers: N/A Cost: 1 Willpower Duration: Based on successes and any contest from an unwilling target Telekinesis Levels • One pound/one-half kilogram •• 20 pounds/10 kilograms ••• 200 pounds/100 kilograms •••• 500 pounds/250 kilograms ••••• 1,000 pounds/500 kilograms

Effects One success Two successes Three successes Four successes one turn two turns three turns four turns Five successes five turns