In this system, only psionicists can use psi powers, though everyone has some ability to resist psionic attacks. Psychic Reservoir, an attribute, is defined below. Like most attributes, this starts at Fair unless deliberately altered. The GM may change this, depending on the level of psi she envisions: the default may be Poor or Terrible, for example, and there may be a ceiling on how high Psychic Reservoir can be set.
Merely having a Psychic Reservoir attribute does not mean the
character is capable of actively using psi. There are an
indeterminate number of psionic Powers and skills - as many as the GM
wishes to include. It is the presence of these Powers and skills that
separates a psionicist from mundane people.
7.31 Psychic Reservoir
Psychic Reservoir is a measure of psi power available. A low Psychic Reservoir can negatively modify any active psi ability, while a high Reservoir can be tapped to increase your chances of success.
A psionicist taps his Psychic Reservoir when he uses a psychic skill. Continued use gradually drains a Reservoir, and short but potent uses of a psi Power also drains a Reservoir, but normal brief use doesn't. However, a rolled degree of Terrible or worse on a psionic skill roll always lowers Psychic Reservoir by one level, at least.
A psionicist can also attempt to drain his Psychic Reservoir deliberately. Each level of Psychic Reservoir sacrificed gains a +1 bonus to a psionic skill, if done after rolling for the skill (see Section 7.34, Psionic Actions). If done before rolling for the skill, each level drained gains +1 Power level (see Section 7.35, Desperation Psionics).
There is no immediate penalty for dropping a level of Psychic Reservoir, as long as it remains Terrible or higher. However, your next use of psi may be affected: there is a negative modifier for using a Psychic skill when your Psychic Reservoir is below Fair - see Section 7.36, Psi Modifiers Summary.
If the Psychic Reservoir is drained to below Terrible, the character immediately loses consciousness. It requires a Good roll versus some sort of Constitution attribute to regain consciousness, which may be attempted every combat round.
Even after regaining consciousness, a character with Psychic Reservoir below Terrible is in trouble. The GM may impose any type of affliction she desires on such a character until the Psychic Reservoir reaches at least Terrible. Suggested afflictions include mild insanity (hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, etc.), physical debility (drooling, shaking, twitching, etc.), attribute reductions, and negative modifiers for even non-psi actions.
A character can regain one level of his Psychic Reservoir for each
week of rest, up to his current maximum level. (This time period may
be adjusted by the GM, of course.)
7.32 Psionic Powers
The GM must decide how precisely she wants to define Psi Powers. Since each Power must be bought separately, defining them broadly makes for more powerful characters. The following chart shows some very broad groups that include the more narrowly defined Psi power groups listed with them. These in turn contain even more narrowly defined powers, which a GM may use as individual Powers if desired. This list may be regrouped, expanded, some powers disallowed, a narrowly defined group made into a broad group that includes other powers, etc. The list is not intended to be comprehensive, but merely a sample.
Very Broad Groups Mildly Broad Groups Narrow Groups
----------------- ------------------- -------------
Antipsi Distort
Nullify
Resist
ESP Astral Projection
Telesense Clairaudience
Clairvoyance
Locate Object
Locate Person
Sense Aura
Temporal Revelation Postcognition
Precognition
Psychometry
Psychokinesis Control Animate Healing
Levitation
Metabolism Control
Shapeshifting
Control Inanimate Force Shield
Photokinesis
Sonarkinesis
Telekinesis
Transmogrify Object
Electrokinesis Alter Electric Current
Control Electrical Devices
Cyberpsi
Electric Blast
Temperature Control Cryokinesis
Pyrokinesis
Telepathy Empathy Emotion Control
Emotion Sensing
Mind Shield
Mental Communication Mind Reading
Thought Sending
Mental Control Alter Memory
Persuasion
Prevent Clear Thinking
Send Violent Energy
Telehypnosis
Vampirism Borrow Skill
Drain Psychic Reservoir
Drain Health
Drain Energy
Teleportation Teleport Self
Teleport Other
Teleport Object
Planar Travel
Open Dimension Portal
The GM should let the players know what depth of Psi skills she is using. Each Power costs one Supernormal Power (two gifts).
Buying a Psi Power gets it at Terrible. Powers may then be raised at the cost of two skill levels per level, if using the Objective Character Creation system. That is, to raise Telekinesis Power to Poor, for example, requires two skill levels, and to raise it to Mediocre would cost two more skill levels.
If a GM envisions a psi-rich campaign, of course, the costs should be much cheaper. The best way to arrange this is probably to allow many free levels of Supernormal Powers and Supernormal skills, but not allow them to be traded for mundane traits.
Power levels define range, quantity or size of subject affected, etc. see Section 7.3, Psi. A Fair Power can do whatever the default average is for the campaign world. Some tasks require a minimum Power level, as set by the GM. If the character has the Power, but not at the minimum level required, he may not attempt the action unless he uses Desperation Psionics (Section 7.35). If the psi has the appropriate Power at three or more levels above the minimum required, he is at +1 for that use.
No psionic ability can be used unless the character has the Power listed on his character sheet.
Latent Powers: a character may take a latent psi Power at the cost of one gift. He can't use the Power (may not take any related psi skills), but later in the campaign he may spend EP equal to another gift to awaken the Power. He would then have to learn the skills to control the Power.
It is also possible to take some interesting faults that will limit
the nature of any Power. "Usable only in emergencies" is a common
theme in fiction, for example.
7.33 Psionic Skills
You cannot attempt any psionic action unless you have the specific skill to control the Power in question. Each Power must have an accompanying skill of corresponding broadness or narrowness (Control Telekinesis, Use Telepathy, Read Minds, etc.).
The default for psionic skills is Non-existent. Raising a skill to
Terrible costs one skill level, etc. Skills may be taken as high as
Fair at the beginning of a game. (The GM may allow higher levels if
the campaign is centered around psionic abilities.) They may be
improved through normal character development, and new ones may be
added if the GM is willing. The player should have a good story
concerning awakening new skills, however.
7.34 Psionic Actions
Two kinds of psionic action are possible, Opposed and Unopposed.
An Opposed action is a psionic attack upon an unwilling subject. The attacker rolls against his specific psionic skill, and defender rolls against some sort of Will attribute to resist. (A defender may have an appropriate psi skill to use instead, such as Mind Shield.) An example of an Opposed action would be an attempt to control someone's emotions by filling them with fear.
Unopposed psionic actions usually target inanimate objects. An Unopposed action could be as simple as examining an object psychically, or as complex as opening a dimensional door at one's feet. Telekinetically hurling an object at a foe is an Unopposed action because the object, not the foe, is the subject of the psionic skill.
When a Psi wishes to use an ability, the player describes the result he wants to the GM. The GM then assesses how difficult such an effect would be and assigns a Difficulty level to it. Even if a psi overcomes a defender's Will roll to resist, he must still roll the Difficulty level or higher to succeed at a task.
There may also be a minimum Power level needed in order to attempt an action. For example, telekinetically lifting a pencil might only require a Terrible Telekinesis Power, but lifting a large book might require a Mediocre Telekinesis Power, and lifting a car might require a Superb Telekinesis Power. If the psi's Power level is three or more above the minimum needed, he gets a +1 to his skill level.
Note that mentally lifting a pencil might only require a Terrible Power level, but manipulating it to sign one's name would probably require a Superb skill result. To accurately forge another person's signature would not only require a Superb Telekinesis skill result, but also a Fair or better Forgery skill result.
The time required to activate a psionic ability depends on the potency of the desired effect and the Power level of the character. It is set by the GM. This can range from a single combat round to hours of concentration. The individual can also vary the time concentrating (which must be uninterrupted) to speed up the results or increase the chances of success - see Section 7.36, Psi Modifiers Summary.
The Psi now applies all modifiers and rolls against the Difficulty level using the appropriate skill. In an Opposed action, both parties involved make their rolls. On tie results, the status quo is maintained, whatever that may be.
At this point, a psi (or animate target of a psionic attack) may attempt to sacrifice one or more levels of Psychic Reservoir to augment his rolled result. (That is, if a psi fails in an Unopposed action, he may stress himself in attempt to succeed. In an Opposed action, this can be considered two people locked in psionic combat, each struggling to boost their power a bit to overcome the other.)
To augment a rolled result, a Psionicist rolls against the psionic skill he just used, with current modifiers still effective. If the result is Good, he may sacrifice one level of Psychic Reservoir to give him a +1 on the result of the skill attempt. On a result of Great, he may sacrifice one or two levels, gaining +1 for each level, and on a roll of Superb or better, he may sacrifice up to three levels of Psychic Reservoir. On a result of Fair, Mediocre or Poor, there is no effect: he may not sacrifice a level of Psychic Reservoir, but there is no penalty for having tried. On a result of Terrible or worse, however, he not only drains one level of Psychic Reservoir, he also loses one level of rolled result! This can intensify any negative consequences of having failed.
If one party of an Opposed action is successful in augmenting his rolled result, the other may then try to augment his. They may continue to trade sacrificing levels of Psychic Reservoir until one of them fails to change the result, or falls below Terrible Psychic Reservoir.
Someone defending with no psionic abilities rolls against Will-2 to augment his result. While a psionic attack is resisted by straight willpower, draining Psychic Reservoir is actually a psionic activity. This is hard for people totally untrained in psi skills to do - harder than merely defending yourself against a psionic attack.
Once augmenting is complete, the GM decides the duration of the effects - the better the roll, the better the results. Continuous concentration may be required to sustain the effect; this may slowly drain one's Psychic Reservoir. Rolling above the Difficulty level can increase the effect and/or cause it to last longer. Some effects will be permanent, such as Healing.
Psionic abilities are sometimes dangerous to use. A rolled degree of
Terrible or worse will usually result in the exact opposite of the
desired outcome, or some other entertaining backfire. In addition,
the psi loses one level of Psychic Reservoir, as outlined in Section 7.31. It may also have a gruesome result:
brain hemorrhage, loss of sanity, or a similar outcome. A Terrible
result on an Opposed psionic action can mean the loser is now
psychically open to his opponent. Such an open channel to another's
psyche means that if the winner has any psychic ability at all, he can
automatically draw on the loser's Psychic Reservoir to power his own
abilities! The GM should determine these effects based on the
situation at hand.
7.35 Desperation Psionics
Ordinarily, if the minimum Power level of a proposed psionic action is higher than the character's Power level, the psionicist may not attempt the action at all. However, if one is desperate enough, he can try it - at a great price.
For each level of Psychic Reservoir voluntarily drained before the skill roll, a psionicist can increase his Power level by +1. Simply pushing the Power level up to match the minimum level needed is all it takes to try the skill - but he is at -2 to his skill for each level of Psychic Reservoir he drained for this attempt. Unlike augmenting a rolled result (as described in the previous section), no roll against a psi skill is needed to willingly drain a level of Psychic Reservoir. Draining one level of Psychic Reservoir before the die roll is automatically successful: it raises Power level by one (so you can even try an action), and lowers the skill rolled against by 2.
This is obviously not for casual use: the risk of a Terrible outcome
is much higher than normal, as well as the guaranteed drain on Psychic
Reservoir. Nonetheless, if one were being attacked by the Spawn of
The Other, a demon of tremendous power, one might try anything to
survive.
7.36 Psi Modifiers Summary
Apply as many modifiers to the skill as are appropriate:
Psychic Reservoir Level: Psionic Skill use at:
Mediocre -1
Poor -2
Terrible -3
Below Terrible Prohibited
Concentration time reduced by half: -1
Concentration time doubled: +1
Power level is 3 or more greater than necessary for the task: +1
Successful sacrifice of Psychic Reservoir after the roll: +1 per level Rolled Terrible or worse on sacrifice attempt: -1
Desperation attempts: -2 per level of Psychic Reservoir spent
Certain drugs, devices, fields, star alignments, areas, etc., can also
have modifiers. As a GM-chosen option, psionics may be blocked by
metal - either all metal or just certain ones.
7.37 Psi Examples
Yardmower Man wants to mow the lawn without exerting himself physically. He's not lazy, it's just the ego satisfaction he's after, as well as the practice. He currently has a Good Psychic Reservoir and an interesting assortment of psi Powers and skills. The GM decides that to move and control the yard mower is a Great Difficulty level task on Telekinesis skill. It requires only Mediocre Telekinesis Power, however. Yardmower Man has a Good Telekinesis Power but only Fair Telekinesis skill. It may be tough to do it well, but he's willing to try it.
Yardmower Man declares he's going to spend twice as much time concentrating (+1) and is also under the influence of Batch-5, a psi- enhancing drug (+1). He rolls a -1 result, which means a Good Telekinesis effort due to his modifiers. He just missed the Difficulty level. Since his power is adequate to move the lawn mower, he still mows the lawn telekinetically, but doesn't do a very good job. In fact, it looks sloppy: there are thin strips of unmowed grass here and there, and he took out half of his daisy bed with one poorly aimed swipe.
Since this is a continued use, the GM decides that for each hour spent mowing he reduces his Psychic Reservoir by one level. It takes him two hours.
The next day, Yardmower Man decides the director of the local government psionic research facility should be Molecularly Rearranged. (He's always snooping around, and has been known to lock up psis in the past.) The GM rules that Molecularly Rearranging a human other than the Psi himself is a Superb Difficulty level task against the Shapeshift skill, and requires at least a Great Shapeshift Power. It is also a taxing thing to do: it will drain one level of Psychic Reservoir at the end of the action. It will be opposed by the director's Presence attribute, which is close as this campaign comes to willpower.
Fortunately for Yardmower man, he has the Shapeshift Power and skill both at Superb level. He also consumes a double dose of Batch-5, giving him a +2 in the Opposed action, but severely risking side effects. His Psychic Reservoir is down to Mediocre from activities the night before (-1 to skill). Yardmower man rolls a -1 Result. This is modified -1 for low Psychic Reservoir, and +2 for Batch-5, giving him a Superb Result.
The poor director has a Good Presence and Fair Psychic Reservoir. He gets lucky and rolls a Great Presence result trying to resist the psionic attack. But Great is not good enough (Yardmower man got a Superb result), so he tries to augment his result by sacrificing a level of Psychic Reservoir to fight the rearrangement of his molecules. His sacrifice roll (against Presence) is a Good Result, so he increases his result to Superb. He's still holding on, but just barely. Also, his Reservoir will be Mediocre after this round of psychic combat.
Yardmower Man, not to be outdone, attempts to sacrifice his own Psychic Reservoir. He started the combat with a Mediocre Psychic Reservoir and full of Batch-5, so he still applies the +1 overall modifier to his Superb Shapeshift skill on his augmentation roll. He easily achieves a Good Result, and he therefore augments his result to Superb+1. (After this round, his Reservoir will also drop another level.)
The director desperately tries to augment his result again, but rolls a Fair result: he's reached the limit of his ability to stave off defeat. Yardmower Man rearranges the director into a lovely bush, and stares blankly at the outcome. At this point, his Psychic Reservoir drops one more level, as required by the GM for such a taxing action.
Since he lost one level of Psychic Reservoir augmenting his skill, and
another for the difficult Shapeshift action, Yardmower Man is now left
with a Terrible Psychic Reservoir; he'd better not try anything this
difficult for a while. Also, the GM demands a Good Difficulty level
roll against Constitution to avoid any unpleasant side effects from
the Batch-5 overdose. Yardmower Man gets a Mediocre result, missing
by two levels. The GM smiles at the player, and secretly jots down
that the next time he uses Batch-5, he'll hallucinate that the
director has returned to human form and is out to get him . . .
Yardmower Man may someday drain his Psychic Reservoir fighting someone
that isn't there.
7.4 Alternate Rules
It is one of FUDGE's basic premises that people have different tastes.
Here are a collection of alternate rules sections for doing things
slightly differently.
7.41 Alternate Section 2.4: Character Creation
Date: December, 1992
By: Ed Heil
Instead of creating characters before starting the game, create them as the game progresses!
The GM assigns a number of skill levels available to a PC during a session. This should be based on how finely the GM defines skills: about 10 to 15 for very broad skill-group games, and maybe twice that for very fine skill-group games. These may be traded at the regular rate of 3 skill levels = 1 attribute level, or 6 skill levels = 1 gift. Faults may also be taken, subject to GM approval.
The players start with most of the character sheets blank - simply write out a brief sentence or two describing the character in a general way. ("Jeb is a surly dwarf, a good fighter, who is out to make a name for himself as a mean customer - and pick up some loot on the way. He likes to talk tough, and doesn't care much for halflings.")
As the character is confronted with challenging situations, the player must decide the level of the trait in question. For example, the PCs are confronted with a ruined castle to explore, and all the players state their characters are looking for hidden passageways. At this point, each player must set his PC's skill in finding hidden passageways (however the GM defines such a trait: Perception attribute, or Find Hidden skill, or Architecture skill, etc.). Those who are not yet willing to set such a trait must stop searching: if you use a trait, you must define it. Since setting an initial skill at Fair level uses up two skill levels, and setting it at Superb uses up five levels, one must carefully weigh spending levels on skills as they are used versus saving them for emergency situations.
As usual, attributes are considered Fair unless altered, and most skills are considered Poor. Taking a trait at a level below the default adds to your available skill level pool, of course. However, you may only define a trait as it is used in a game situation.
Experience points are given out as usual, but EP awarded are reduced
by any unused skill levels after each session. That is, if you have
two levels left after the first session, and the GM awards you three
EP, you only get one more level for the next session, since you
already have two levels unused. EP, in this case, can be used either
to raise existing skills, as discussed in Section 5.2, Objective
Character Development, or they can be used to add new skills, as
discussed in this section, above. Note that it costs more EPs to
raise an existing skill than it does to define a previously undefined
skill in this on-the-fly system. EP should be slightly higher under
this system than a regular character creation system, perhaps a range
of up to 10 per session.
7.42 Alternate HREF=fudge.4.html#sec4.2>Section
4.2
: Rolling the Dice
Date: January, 1993
By: Andy Skinner
As a simple variation on any dice technique, allow players who roll a +4 result to roll again. If the result is positive, add it in to the +4 already rolled. If the result is negative or zero, ignore the second roll. This allows a small chance of results up to +8, which is especially nice in truly dire situations!
Only a pitiless GM would balance this by requiring additional rolls to
see how miserably a person can do on a -4 result, however.
7.43 Alternate Section 4.2: Rolling the Dice
Date: November, 1993
By: Steffan O'Sullivan, with Andy Skinner and others
Here are two different techniques for rolling the dice, for those who wish to try something other than the system given in Chapter 4.
Instead of 2d6, use 2d4. Any of the three dice methods in the main FUDGE rules can be used with 2d4, except that 2d6-7 becomes 2d4-5. This method is actually a bit smoother than the listed method, as there is no +/-5 result to convert to 0. Substitute the following table if using the 2d4-5 method:
Rolled: 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
--------------|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|---- Result: -3 | -2 | -1 | +0 | +1 | +2 | +3
This creates a smaller range of possibilities, which is good in some ways, and bad in others. Characters will tend to do closer to their trait levels, which reflects reality better, but can make for a more static game.
Using 2d4:
Chance of achieving +3 or better: 6%.
Chance of achieving +2 or better: 19%.
Chance of achieving +1 or better: 38%.
Chance of achieving 0 or better: 62%.
Chance of achieving -1 or better: 81%.
Chance of achieving -2 or better: 94%.
Chance of achieving -3 or better: 100%.
Four-sided dice are generally poor-rolling dice. However, at least one company, Gamescience, makes eight-sided d4s. This is a special d8, numbered twice from 1 to 4, and it rolls very well. They are available in five different colors - ask your local retailer if interested. (Neither the author nor Wild Mule Games has any connection with Gamescience.)
Gamescience also makes a d5: this is a ten-sided die, numbered 1 to 5 twice. They come in many different colors. Two of these can be used instead of 2d6: they return the same range as 2d6 (-4 to +4), without the inconvenience of having to convert +/-5 results to a zero result.
Any of the dice techniques can be used with 2d5, except 2d6-7 becomes 2d5-6. Substitute the following chart if using 2d5-6:
Rolled: 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10
Result: -4 | -3 | -2 | -1 | +0 | +1 | +2 | +3 | +4
Using 2d5:
Chance of achieving +4 or better: 4%.
Chance of achieving +3 or better: 12%.
Chance of achieving +2 or better: 24%.
Chance of achieving +1 or better: 40%.
Chance of achieving 0 or better: 60%.
Chance of achieving -1 or better: 76%.
Chance of achieving -2 or better: 88%.
Chance of achieving -3 or better: 96%.
Chance of achieving -4 or better: 100%.
With these alternate rules, melee combat is handled as a series of attacks and defenses instead of simultaneous action. Each combat round involves two actions: the fighter with the higher initiative attacking while the other defends; then the second combatant attacking while the first defends.
(Initiative can be determined with a single d6 die roll. However, if the GM has an Initiative attribute (such as Reflexes) or skill, treat gaining initiative as an Opposed Action. If the GM allows a gift such as Combat Reflexes, that grants a +1 to initiative. Surprise may grant a bonus to the roll, or give automatic initiative. Initiative can be rolled once for each battle - the simplest way - or once each round. Or the character who did the best the previous round could automatically control the initiative in the next round.)
Each attack is an Opposed Action: the attacker's Offensive skill (Sword, Melee Weapon, Martial Art, etc.) against a defender's Defensive skill (Shield, Parry, Dodge, Duck, etc.). This makes combat take longer, but some players feel it gives a character more control over his own fate.
Using these rules, Defensive skill is a separate skill that must be bought independently of an Offensive skill. Simply taking Sword at Superb implies only offensive use of the sword: the character must also take Parry with Sword for defensive capability.
Obviously, the GM must tell the players at character creation which method she is using - or allow them extra levels on the fly to adjust their defensive abilities. The GM may also allow Parry with Weapon Skill to default to Weapon Skill minus two levels: that is, a Great Sword skill automatically means a Fair Parry skill. While some GMs might restrict Parry to being no higher than Weapon skill (or even to a maximum of one less than Weapon skill), others can imagine a defensive specialist who might parry Superbly, but attack Poorly!
The default for animals depends on their type: carnivores will usually have a Defense value one level less than their Offense, while this is reversed for most prey species.
Note that some weapons, such as an Axe, are poor parrying weapons. Such fighters should have decent Shield or Dodge skills. Each player should ask the GM at character creation if a weapon may be used to parry, and still be used to attack without penalty in the next turn.
All-out offensive and defensive tactics still work with this system: a
character simply forfeits his attack for a round if he chooses All-out
defense. Likewise, a fighter is at -2 on his defense on his
opponent's next turn if choosing All-out offense.
7.45 Alternate Section 4.7, Damage and Healing
Date: December, 1992
By: Bernard Hsiung
A very easy way to keep track of wounds is with cards: give a player one face-down card when his character is Hurt, and another face-down card when his character is Very Hurt. He gets rid of them when the character is healed. Face-up cards represent fatigue - the character is reeling from exhaustion. He gets rid of those by resting. (A character can get fatigued by anything that fatigues real people: physical or mental activity, work, stress, etc. Note that casting spells, using psi powers, etc., might or might not count as fatiguing mental activity.)
Each card the character has represents a -1 to traits that would logically be affected until the third, which represents incapacitation.
The cards may also describe hit location, if desired: a black card is the torso, while a red card means an extremity. The lower the red card, the lower the extremity; the higher the red card, the higher the wound on the body.