Game Rules

Psychic Powers

Beasts commonly refer to psychic powers as "Gifts" or "Powers". No one is quite sure where they come from; the very first generation of Beasts manifested some of the simpler abilities right away. Since those days, a number of different Gifts have been discovered, some of which defy easy classification.

Mechanically, a psychic power is represented by the Psychic Power Edge and a matching skill. This Edge can be taken multiple times; each one grants you a new psychic power. Each time that you take it, you acquire a new skill, which you can use to invoke or control that power. These skills all start without any dice, but so long as you have the appropriate Edge, you can still use them. Without the appropriate Edge, it's impossible to use a given power.

When you want to use one of your powers, you'll normally roll Spirit & the appropriate Psychic Skill. Note that while you can use a psychic power without having any dice in the skill, it's dangerous.

Most Gifts can be used to perform several different effects, which are discussed under the rules for each one. You can also push a Gift, making it do something above and beyond what it is normally capable of. When you do this, you'll often lose access to that power for a time. Pushing a Gift generally requires intense concentration and shouldn't be done lightly.

In extraordinary circumstances, you can even double-push a Gift. This generally means pushing it once, then pushing it still harder. When you double-push a Gift, you're asking for trouble. Double-pushing can accomplish extraordinary things, but you could lose your power for days or even see your skill at it permanently reduced.

Pushing or Double-Pushing a Power

In order to push a power, you must first activate it normally. Then you have to spend a full action pushing it. Roll Spirit & Psychic Skill.

Double-pushing is simply the act of pushing a power that has already been pushed once. If you try to double-push, you'll have to roll on the Powerloss Table as well. A power cannot be "triple-pushed".

The Risk of this roll is 2 for a regular push and 3 for a double-push.

Result	Effect
Botch	your power turns off and you cannot reactivate it until after you get a good night's rest.
Failure	your power turns off, but you can reactivate it normally.
Partial Success	you successfully push your power. Once it turns off, you'll lose access to it until after you get a good night's rest.
Success	as Partial Success, but you only require one hour of rest to recover access to your power.
Critical Success	as Success, but you don't lose access to your power when it turns off.
Extraordinary Success	as Critical Success, but the time necessary is reduced to a half-action.

Special Note: the results of a double-push roll cannot be better than the results of the original push roll. If you pushed and scored a Partial Success, then any result higher than Partial Success on your double-push roll will be treated as a Partial Success.

Whenever you try to double-push a power, whether you succeed or fail, you'll have to roll on the Powerloss table.

The Powerloss Table

Roll a d12 and consult the results below. Note that your Spirit and Skill ratings have no effect on this roll! Thus, it's not normally possible to roll an Extraordinary Success.

Result	Effect
Botch	your skill with the power is reduced by 1 step permanently. If you have no skill dice for that power, your Spirit stat is reduced by 1 step, permanently. Double-pushing a power is dangerous.
Failure	lose access to all psychic powers for 1d6+1 days.
Partial Success	lose access to the power used for 1d4+1 days.
Success	lose access to the power used for one additional full day.
Critical Success	lose access to the power used for one additional hour.

Posted by Kiz at June 24, 2004 03:21 PM