Notes
*Includes +3 from Thoughtform Talent.
Though you wouldn't know it from his name (the same name his grandfather's grandfather was given at Ellis Island - the family is a bit vague on what they were called before then), Geoff is indeed Jewish, even if he shows no particular interest in practicing his faith. That's beginning to change, now that he's seen proof that magic exists, but it's still a lower priority for him, than developing his skills in the SCIENCE! of the Sons of Ether.
His maternal grandfather, retired locksmith and pawnbroker Saul Meitner, also has Lockpicking/TL6 & /TL7, but he decided to start teaching Geoff on modern locks, and work on the older ones later (in many cases, there is little difference). Michael Winters didn't really approve of Saul, nor of his son marrying Saul's daughter, but they both love their grandchildren.
I listed the bullies as 'Rivals' because they have no ability to get him arrested, and aren't would-be murderers. They're just utter jerk-jocks.
His Psionic Screwdriver is a tool he made, not a gift from the spirits. The skills for using it are Computer Operation & Computer Programming for Netrunning (Internal Memory is a flash drive with 128 GB), Electronics Operation (Sons of Ether) for Ignition and Telekinesis (along with Lockpicking and other task-specific skills), and Beam Weapons (Pistol) for the Force Beam. The screwdriver is continuously evolving as he works on it, and will most likely develop other abilities, or higher levels on existing abilities, as time goes by. At the moment, he's trying to get Netrunning up to level two.
The ammunition for the vortex pistol includes any of the TL9 gases from Ultra-Tech pp159-160 -
except for Nerve Gas, which he has no intention of
ever making - plus any plausible TL8 or lower gases, like CO2 (fire extinguisher), OC pepper spray, and so forth. He also makes an Energy Gas (heals 1d+1 FP) and a Relief Gas (removes the penalties from up to 9 HP of
non-crippling injury for 1d*6 minutes). Other cartridges (holy water, perhaps) may be available if he has time to make them. The specific composition varies, but his belt normally holds ten cartridges, with two each of the Energy and Relief gases. Most of these gases are charms, of course.
Weird Science (Sons of Ether) is an Energy Accumulating Path style based on the Mage the Ascension game from the Classic World of Darkness; not all CWoD styles use the same base skill: The Virtual Adepts and other technomages use Weird Science, but the Order of Hermes mostly uses Thaumatology (save for a few odd Houses that use Ritual Magic, Weird Science, or other skills), the Akashic Brotherhood uses Meditation, and the rest tend to use Ritual Magic. The Paths are called 'Spheres' (or sometimes 'Pillars', or other such names), and the style is improvizational, like Ritual Path Magic (GURPS Monster Hunter 1, pp32-39), though it isn't the same thing, exactly. Depending on the style of the faction (or the individual mage's perception of it), Path skills may be based on Will or Per, rather than IQ. The available Spheres are as follows, using the SoE names, and the regular Mage names in square brackets afterwards (and the nearest RPM equivalents in parentheses):
Sphere of Causality [Time (Crossroads)]
Sphere of Contiguous Ether [Correspondence (Crossroads)]
Sphere of Energetic Physics [Forces (Energy)]
Sphere of Ether Dynamics [Entropy (Chance)]
Sphere of Etheric and Memetic Dimensions [Spirit (Spirit/Undead/Crossroads)]
Sphere of Etheric Biology [Life (Body)]
Sphere of Etheric Chemistry and Engineering [Matter (Matter/Undead)]
Sphere of Metaphysical Ether [Prime (Magic)]
Sphere of Noetic Science [Mind (Mind)]
(Yes, just using the Realms system from Thaumatology would fit better, but I'm not planning on including that in this setting, so this is a translation into a Path/Book system.)
Because of the mindset of the game it's based on, more powerful effects require higher levels of Thoughtform Talent (called Arete, Foundation, Inspiration, or Enlightenment by many practitioners), and because of the nature of the powers involved, Create and Transform effects tend to require more power. Refusing to recognize the divergeant difficulties between reality and the game would be a Delusion, and potentially a Major one.
Thoughtform Talent 1 allows all Lesser Sense effects; it also allows all Lesser Mind effects, except Transform and Create, that do not require other Spheres, and have the caster as the only target.
Thoughtform Talent 2 allows Lesser Control, Strengthen, Restore, and Destroy effects in general, as well as Lesser Transform Mind effects that do not require other Spheres.
Thoughtform Talent 3 allows Greater Sense, Control, Strengthen, Restore, and Destroy effects in general, and Lesser Transform and Create effects in Spheres other than Correspondence, Matter, Life, and Time
Thoughtform Talent 4 allows Lesser Transform and Create effects in the Spheres of Correspondence, Matter, Life, and Time, and Greater Transform and Create effects in Spheres other than those.
Thoughtform Talent 5 allows Greater Transform and Create effects in Correspondence, Matter, Life, and Time.
Note that because of the limits of psi powers in this setting, all Time effects other than Lesser or Greater Sense Time require another Sphere, and often more than one (and mostly don't involve actual changing of time). Mind, Life, and Spirit are common, and Greater Transform Correspondence effects can be made to speed up or slow down time as a side effect (adding Lesser or Greater Control Time). Transform effects frequently involve Correspondence, to warp space, and 'Create' effects in the spheres of Matter and Life require it to teleport material from other locations, and use Transform effects to change the relocated material into the required shape, due to Conservation of Matter - 'Create' effects in the Sphere of Forces are likewise disguised Transform effects, due to Conservation of Energy.
Magic items (Wonders, Artifacts/Talismans, or Inventions/Devices) are made with a Greater Control Prime effect, for most 'Mage the Ascension' styles (including the Sons of Ether), or Greater Control Spirit, for styles like the Dreamspeakers/Spirit-Talkers, who are more consciously aware that they are making fetishes. The spirits in the former rarely have clearly relatable minds, unless the enchanter is also including a Lesser or Greater Create Mind effect.
Practitioners generally call Lesser effects 'static', 'coincidental', or 'casual' magick (yes, with a k), and Greater effects 'dynamic', 'vulgar', or 'vain' magick. Critical failures (called 'Paradox', 'Scourge', or 'Backlash', among others) of Lesser effects tend to have less disasterous results than critical failures of Greater effects: Roll twice on the "Reality Warping" Table (Thaumatology p259; no warping of reality actually takes place, but that's what appears to be happening), choosing the better result (for the caster) if the critical failure was on a Lesser effect, and choosing the worse result, for a critical failure of a Greater effect - or, fudge a result that seems especially fitting. This is in addition to the Routine Spellcasting rule (if that's the name of it) that keeps cities with lots of professional spellcasters from being frequently attacked by demons (i.e. the very bad results are caused by critical failures
under stress, and do not occur when doing the equivalent of making Job Rolls).
It should be noted that there are
limits beyond 'energy cost' (and for that matter, GMs may choose to alter what various things do cost): Something that will affect a large group of people, whether as a type (family, political party, religious sect, race...) or as 'everyone in this area', is increasingly likely be noticed as the numbers grow. Likewise, things that will affect a large group of animals or plants, or that will have a significant long-term effect, will either be noticed before the spell is complete, or will be predicted through the various forms of precognition. Such things will often either be prevented, or will be otherwise countered - see the 2013 Hallowe'en Curse in the timeline, for example. It is possible to hide such rituals, but the 'louder' the ritual, the more difficlut hiding it becomes.
One important difference between the Monster Hunter setting and this one (this applies in general to all styles of 'magic'), is that teleportation is both possible, and is easier than creating permanent or semi-permanent gates (wormholes) - teleportation is generally a Greater Control Correspondence or Greater Control Crossroads effect, while wormholes intended to last for minutes or hours are Greater Transform Correspondence (or Crossroads) effects (temporary warped spaces might be Greater or Lesser, depending on how much the space is being warped - adding up to 5% more space is likely to be Lesser, adding 10% or more space is clearly Greater, and between them is the GM's call). Permanent wormholes are Greater Transform & Create Correspondence effects, as are permanent warped spaces (though making a temporary warp or wormhole permanent is 'only' a Greater Create Correspondence effect). Manipulation of an already existing space warp or wormhole will usually be a Lesser effect, unless the GM judges it to be too 'large' a warp/wormhole, too great a change (especially if a previous caster protected it in some way), or both.