Manakinesis: Power and abilities

[Celti]

Limiting Collect Mana to the first level of Mana Enhancer lends itself to a psi technique to add that second level. Normally a -10 (effectively adding a +100% enhancement), you could make it half the area (half your level) to reduce that to a -5.

[Not another shrubbery]

The last planned mana changing ability.

Twist Mana

9 points for level 1, plus
8 points per additional level

Skill: Twist Mana (IQ/Hard)

With this ability, you are able to corrupt the local mana level around yourself or (with some difficulty) a target some distance away. The resultant mana is as described under Twisted Mana in Thaumatology (p60). As with the other mana changing abilities, this only lasts while you concentrate, although side-effects caused by the Twisted Mana may linger. Changing the ambient magic energy in this way is a bit slow, taking two seconds of concentration before the change is realized, and it has the unwelcome effect of causing varying physical discomforts, such as mild headaches, slow nosebleeds, etc., that do not necessarily reflect as penalties to any actions, but can be distracting, and which usually linger for a minute or so after you stop using the ability.

With level 1, you affect a two yard radius around your body. Levels after the first extend the effect, adding an extra level of Area Effect (beyond the intrinsic one) per level.

Statistics: Twisted Mana Generator (Manakinesis, -10%, Nuisance Effect (Various minor physical discomforts, as described above), -5%; Requires Concentrate, -15%; Takes Extra Time 1, -10%) [9]. Further levels add Area Effect, one level at a time [+8/level].

Projection

Hard

Default: Twist Mana-4; cannot exceed Twist Mana

You are able to corrupt the mana around a distant target. Apply standard range penalties (B550) to this roll, and if the roll fails due to that penalty, use the Scatter rules (B414) to determine the actual center of effect.


As with Collect Mana, a technique to buy off the TET might be in order. Some of the thoughts in my last post, regarding Wild Mana generation, apply to this ability. In particular, there is the possibility of a counter to this one, something I might name Straighten Mana. It would not have much utility in most game worlds, I guess, with the assumption (from the description of Twisted Mana in Thaumatology) that naturally occurring areas would be quite rare. Still, it seems like it would be relatively more useful, in comparison to its parent trait, than the hypothetical Wild Mana suppressor I mentioned.

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by Celti

Limiting Collect Mana to the first level of Mana Enhancer lends itself to a psi technique to add that second level. Normally a -10 (effectively adding a +100% enhancement), you could make it half the area (half your level) to reduce that to a -5.

That's a thought. I kind of like the symmetry with the Mana Damper build, but maybe the same change could be made with it as well. Thanks for the suggestion! Once I finish off all the abilities I've made notes for, I'll probably revisit each one with some ideas for variants or improvements.

[Not another shrubbery]

One of the two sensing abilities for the MK power.

Sense Magic

8/12/13/18 points for levels 1-4

Skill: Mage Sense (Per/Hard)

The psi is able to sense the presence of magic items, constructs, and spells that are being cast or are ongoing. At level one, this is only a vague awareness that something is nearby, unless the Per roll is a critical success, which reveals the direction and a general idea of what it is. At level two, you get that information on any success, and at level three, you can make a followup IQ roll to Analyze the detected thing. Level four extends the sense to long-ranged.

Statistics: Detect (Magic; Manakinesis, -10%; Reflexive, +40%; Vague, -50%) [8]. Further levels replace Vague with Cannot Analyze, -10% [12], then remove Cannot Analyze [13], and finally add Long-Range, +50% [18].

I had the idea to include the possibility of detecting Magery with this sense, but left it off at the last just because I was tired of sorting out the ramifications. My original idea was to allow it to register to the sense on a critical success, and if you had level three or four, an IQ roll could give basic information about level and type.

[Not another shrubbery]

The other sensing ability... sort of the 'flip side' to the preceding one.

Sense Mana

17/18/19/29/34 points for levels 1-5

Skill: Mage Sense (Per/Hard)

You can sense ambient mana levels and changes therein. This includes whether an area is "Wild" (if that is treated as a separate category in the setting) or "Twisted", and can pinpoint the sources (if any) of such changes. In addition, you can sense the minor fluctuations caused by the use of stored mana, from such sources as Powerstones, Manastones, paut, etc. At level one, you can detect the distance, direction, and strength of such things, and can analyze them if desired, but only at short-range, and you cannot "lock-on" to an interesting item out of view. At level two, your range improves to normal. Level three allows sensed items to be targeted as if they were seen. Level four makes basic analysis automatic, and level five extends the sense to long-ranged.

Statistics: Detect (Mana; Manakinesis, -10%; Precise, Nontargeting, +90%; Short-Range, -10%) [17]. Further levels remove Short-Range [18], then remove Nontargeting [19], then add Analyzing, +100% [29], and finally add Long-Range, +50% [34].


Allowing it to detect the use of stored mana was more to increase the utility a bit. In fact, my original intention was to have it detect all sources of magical power :! Arguably, that sneaks into the territory of Sense Magic, so you could leave it out without impacting the build greatly. I kind of like the idea of using the same skill for the two Detects. With one skill being passive and the other active, it suggested that manakinetics would view them as different uses of the same ability. In that vein, I thought about making the first an Alternate Ability of the second, but the breakpoints weren't favorable *shrug*

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery

Sense Magic
8/12/13/18 points for levels 1-4

Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery

Sense Mana
17/18/19/29/34 points for levels 1-5

I like that you separated these into two powers, but the level costs seem... eh, questionable. Which is only to say, I would have chosen to build the levels slightly differently, so that there's more of a difference between levels 1 through 3 of Sense Mana, for instance. Getting more even divisions would probably help in making Sense Magic an Alternate of Sense Mana, too. For example, you could pretty easily make just three levels of each power, since the costs are so close on several levels. Starting Sense Mana at Short Ranged makes sense thematically, but for the cost of a couple perks I can't see most MKers not upgrading immediately.

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by vierasmarius

I like that you separated these into two powers, but the level costs seem... eh, questionable. Which is only to say, I would have chosen to build the levels slightly differently, so that there's more of a difference between levels 1 through 3 of Sense Mana, for instance. Getting more even divisions would probably help in making Sense Magic an Alternate of Sense Mana, too. For example, you could pretty easily make just three levels of each power, since the costs are so close on several levels. Starting Sense Mana at Short Ranged makes sense thematically, but for the cost of a couple perks I can't see most MKers not upgrading immediately.

I guess it shows that I didn't really design the abilities to fit together as a structured power *g* Honestly, I was just getting tired of fiddling with those last two builds, trying to get them just so. It dawned on me that there wasn't a real need to try to get them perfect, if my mandate was to just give others ideas.

The one point steps are a bit of a distraction, but getting rid of Short-Range on the Sense Mana ability doesn't appeal to me. Maybe you could just start out with Precise and Short-Range, and remove Short-Range in the same step as Analyzing is added. There are a few ways to go if you wanted to reduce Sense Magic to three steps... the way that first occurred to me is to just get rid of the Cannot Analyze step.