[Powers] [Weird] Expanding on Noumena

[DataPacRat]

I'm getting ready to import Powers:TheWeird's "Transcencendental Philosophy" and part of "Noumena" into a hardish-SF setting, with the justification that there are a lot of different ways to think than present-day folk are generally aware of. I expect that I'll add the 'Moral: Truth' modifier onto the power's usual Cosmic, and will be leaving out Demiurgy and Nonlocality. That leaves Serendipity, Intuition, and three kinds of Resistances from the text itself...

... so I'm planning on expanding the list some.

I plan to mainly stick to the "knowing things that normal folk wouldn't be able to figure out from the available data" theme: Common Sense (Conscious), Danger Sense, Psychometry (Hypersensory), and Wild Talent all fit the bill. Unfazeable (stealing "Pact (Disciplines of Faith (Contemplation), ‐5%" from Noumena's Impassivity) and Metabolism Control also seem within the archetype.

Where I'm having trouble is working out the details for a couple of powers for "analyzing subtle pieces of data that are ignored by most peoples' conscious minds". I'm thinking of some version of Oracle and of Precognition (Active Only), but can't quite seem to get the flavour right. Similarly, taking those subtle pieces of information and /manipulating/ them seems like it could be justification for Visualization (Blessing on self or others), but I can't seem to get the right feel for it.

Any suggestions?

[Refplace]

Might add Illumination as well.
I used that as a key part of my Fae and though its fantasy there might be something useful to you. Especially the power modifier.
https://refplace.blogspot.com/p/fae.html

[DataPacRat]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Might add Illumination as well.
I used that as a key part of my Fae and though its fantasy there might be something useful to you. Especially the power modifier.
https://refplace.blogspot.com/p/fae.html

A character needs to have Illuminated before they can acquire Transcendental Philosophy in the first place.

(There still might be the option of buying improvements for the base version, though.)

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by DataPacRat

Where I'm having trouble is working out the details for a couple of powers for "analyzing subtle pieces of data that are ignored by most peoples' conscious minds". I'm thinking of some version of Oracle and of Precognition (Active Only), but can't quite seem to get the flavour right. Similarly, taking those subtle pieces of information and /manipulating/ them seems like it could be justification for Visualization (Blessing on self or others), but I can't seem to get the right feel for it.

Versatile and Higher Purpose are both traits for giving +1 in a certain set of circumstances. As an active use, Visualisation should do the job though.

[DataPacRat]

I'd like to double-check my notes, from Social Engineering, Back to School, Boardroom & Curia, etc, on the process of learning Transcendental Philosophy at TL10.

The foundation would seem to be the "Illumination" technique, which lets a teacher use the Will-based variant of Intensive Training to let a student gain the Illuminated advantage. I noticed the TL9+ Smart Drugs on SE:BtS p14, which double learning rate, and I'm assuming they can also multiply intensive training's learning rate, to 8 CP per month. And TL10 Dream Teaching, from Ultra-Tech, lets a student pick up IQ-based skills at Intensive Training's doubled rate; I'm assuming that a standard student is spending up to 16 hours a day in training, so probably only half as much time asleep, which would bring up the training rate to 12 CP per month. Is all of that sensical so far?

If so, then the basic TL10 training program would seem to be 2 months, for 24 CP: [15] for Illuminated (using non-dream training), [1] for Style Familiarity, [4] for TP's required skills, and [5] on optional choices (nigh-certainly from TP's techniques, perks, etc, or maybe a level its Talent).

The lowest-CP teacher I can come up with, who's actually capable of applying Intensive Training, needs to have Illuminated [15], Teaching-12 [8], and Illumination 3 [4], and can only handle a class-size of up to 2 (for the +5 bonus).

A student needs at least Will 12, and they need to roll monthly, at a cumulative -1 per month after the first, optionally with Autohypnosis as a complementary roll. Success and they gain their CP, failure by 1-2 and they instead get a Quirk, larger failure and they collapse (3d fatigue), critfail and they get a -10 mental disadvantage (and a further roll on its permanence).

SE:BtS says that you can treat a single sensei with a few disciples as a one-man Organization, in this case probably with a base point value of [1] (for 2x standard starting assets). At TL10, with Wealth: Struggling, Contacts of Teaching-15 and contemplative-skills-12, the traits Illumination and Zeroed, the Startup Costs seem to be $44,352, with a Resource Value of $221.76/month. I'm guessing "Secret School Rank" would be 2/level (Nominal Hierarchical Position With Title, Small Resources, Special Assets (Illumination & Transcendental Philosophy), and Unique) with a max rank of around 1. But all the Organization really seems to offer are standard training facilities, maybe a bit of funding ($1k to the teacher, or $100 to a student, with a good roll), and enough Immersive VR for a +2 Teaching bonus.

I'm still trying to puzzle out which rules for teacher-payment should apply, whether the job rules from one or another book, or the simple cash-for-CP box ($280/CP with a Teaching-12 teacher providing +0 to monthly study rolls to $5600/CP for +4). And which rolls a prospective student would need to make to find a teacher, or a teacher to find students.

How much of all that did I get right? :)