[Powers] [Weird] Statting out 'neural augments'?

[DataPacRat]

One thing GURPS is very good at is describing exactly how a superpower or given piece of tech works, down to the last +1 modifier. However, when a power's details are a mystery to a character, when they aren't completely sure how it might work or which interactions will cause problems, things get... a bit weird.

There's a webserial called "Doc Future" ( https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.p...dbox/DocFuture ) I want to steal some ideas from, specifically a range of powers that fall under the description of 'neural augments'. Some of the simpler ones are cinematically-powerful mnemonics, and can be used by just about anyone to come to the more-likely-correct option more often, or sooner, or the like; the most advanced require some level of super-science (calling on not just flashy techno-helmets, but ideas such as causal loops and the 'measure' of similar alternate realities) for significantly more dramatic effects. But just because some mad scientist comes up with a trick doesn't mean that that trick has no long-term negative consequences, or plays well with similar tricks come up with by other mad scientists, or otherwise avoids complicating the user's life. (The webserial has a lot of other ideas, too, but I just want to focus on the mental-enhancement stuff now.)

I suppose that the simplest option is to let a character buy up IQ as well as skills by spending hours in training, with the flufftext of 'meditative disciplines'... but I'm certain that there are a variety of other approaches, many of which can add much entertainment to an otherwise humdrum plot. For example, instead of simply buying up IQ, how about tying a +1 to IQ with a combo of Unreliable that activates a Temporary Disadvantage if the roll fails, another +1 IQ with Requires Concentrate and Costs Fatigue, and a third +1 IQ that Requires an IQ roll... or, instead of going straight to IQ bonii, the Mathematical Ability Talent? A PC with such a set of powers would have /options/, balancing increases to their rolls with risks of ever-increasing penalties if anything goes wrong.

What other ideas along these lines can you think of?

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by DataPacRat

d can be used by just about anyone to come to the more-likely-correct option more often, or sooner, or the like; f?

This is probably Intuition with few modifiers.

[DataPacRat]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

This is probably Intuition with few modifiers.

True enough; I'm just hoping for some suggestions on /which/ modifiers seem most applicable. :)

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by DataPacRat

True enough; I'm just hoping for some suggestions on /which/ modifiers seem most applicable. :)

<shrug> I lack any familiarity with your subject matter. I was simply struck by the unacknowledged Gurps Advantage in our description.

You can hang a Power Modifier on Intuition in Psionic Powers so a PM would seem to be appropriate though I wonder about the character's opponents turning off his "neural augment". This Power could also be basically Wild.

After that there are the usual supects such as Relaibility and Accessability but I note that "IQ Roll Required" is built in.

[DataPacRat]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

<shrug> I lack any familiarity with your subject matter.

I'd hoped my description in the first post would have been enough to go on; ah well. (If nothing else, posting about this might help sort out some of my own thoughts. :) )

I was simply struck by the unacknowledged Gurps Advantage in our description.

A couple of the other Advantages that fit in well could include Common Sense (ala the modern-day 'rationality' movement, ie quickly figuring out how to avoid the worst available ideas), Unfazeable (likely with a limit requiring a meditative discipline), Serendipity (possibly with Hypersensory: "I don't know why my subconscious suggested I should stand three feet to the left, but I'm glad I knew how to pay attention to it"), a few Resistants/Immunities (pain, external control, mental illusion)... maybe Danger Sense, Empathy, or Visualization... and at the more extreme levels, hypersensory Psychometry, and heavily-modified versions of Oracle and Precognition.

There's a good deal of overlap with Powers The Weird's "Transcendental Philosophy", only instead of being plugged into and interpreting the secret rules underlying what's apparently reality, all of these effects would be based on mental computation based on available sensory evidence.

You can hang a Power Modifier on Intuition in Psionic Powers so a PM would seem to be appropriate though I wonder about the character's opponents turning off his "neural augment". This Power could also be basically Wild.

If the term weren't already being used in GURPS for something else, I might have called the power modifier 'Hypercognition'.

After that there are the usual supects such as Relaibility and Accessability but I note that "IQ Roll Required" is built in.

If possible, I'd like to play up the angle of "applying pieces of one's brain-meats in ways they weren't evolved to do, and suffering the consequences thereof". Simple migraines resulting from neurons using too much energy, requiring dilated blood vessels and higher blood-pressure to supply the brain-cells, is one of the simpler options. (Should I treat that as a temporary Chronic Pain, or an Affliction, or something else?) Hypercognitive psychometry might involve having consciously practiced to create long-range neural links between different sensory centres of the brain, giving a good chance of experiencing synaesthesia when trying to perform a Sherlock scan. Just about any other Mental Disadvantage, and not a few others, could be justified as a Temporary Disadvantage, or an Aftermath.

And that's without even getting into gadgetry: eg, "this helmet induces certain kinds of electromagnetic fields in carefully-identified brain regions, fields which the brain is incapable of creating on its own, and which don't do any good for the average person; but, in combination with certain long-term neurological exercises and short-term meditative disciplines, allows those brain regions to perform tasks they'd normally be incapable of, or at least would take significantly longer to consciously work through", mitigating migraines with carefully-brewed electrolytic drinks (or for heavier-duty results, IV bags), high-speed data-dumps through the eyes and ears, etc.

[dataweaver]

I believe that there's a Savant PM in one of the books; but darned if I can recall which one.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by dataweaver

I believe that there's a Savant PM in one of the books; but darned if I can recall which one.

Powers: the Weird, p. 20.

[dataweaver]

That just references it; it's defined elsewhere. In fact, after a little bit of looking around, I found it in GURPS Supers, p.34. Its defining feature is that the power requires intense concentration to use.

[DataPacRat]

Originally Posted by dataweaver

That just references it; it's defined elsewhere. In fact, after a little bit of looking around, I found it in GURPS Supers, p.34. Its defining feature is that the power requires intense concentration to use.

I can work with that. :)

I've just had another thought on this topic. How workable do you think it would be to allow PCs to buy "junior" versions of the powers in a powerset, which come with a full -80% of Limitations (eg, extra time, costs FP, heavier versions of requires concentration, etc), and gradually spend CP/train study-hours to gradually improve each power up to its baseline power, and then optionally onwards to a wild Advantage, or even an improved one?

Eg, say we start with something like Oracle (Digital) [15], Savant (-10%), Preparation Required (1 hour, -50%), Unreliable (14-, -10%), Hard to Use (-6 to rolls, -10%) [3]. For someone with access to the powerset, it would take 600 hours of training (plus or minus self-study, nootropics, etc) to learn how to occasionally tease out useful hints from a barrage of newsfeeds... and another 2000 hours or so to buy off every limitation but Savant. And then another 3000 hours or so to end up at Oracle (Digital), Savant (+100%).


The main problem with that approach and this setting is the conflict between a player being able to see the rulebook, and to know what they're paying CP (or study-hours) for... and a character who is at the limits of what's known, and is experimenting beyond what's believed to be possible with no guarantee that they'll actually find anything useful. How feasible would it be to incorporate the Invention rules into this powerset (to make rolls to try to invent new powers, instead of just new gadgets)?