Psychic Power List Part III

So we have come to the third part of this list. This time we have mesmerism, genius and location. Mesmerism is your common fascination/captivation ability, which is useful among other things for preparing a subject to other psychic powers. Genius is a passive power, its most obvious utility coming from photographic memory. This power is mostly for flavor/consistency and so that devil-like creatures and dark muses can offer musical skills or mad genius for unfortunate souls. Location is another low-key power, though it can be useful if combined creatively with other powers as it allows you to know the exact location of anyone you have a psychic link to, including those sensed through telepathy or psychometry.

MESMERISM
You can emit an aura of fascination that encaptivates one or more non-psychics around you. While using this power, the targets’ attention is fully fixated on your every move and word. Anyone under the influence loses all awareness of their surroundings and become harmless, unless attacked or physically affected. If you have animal control, you can use this on animals as well. The targets need to be able to see or hear you for the power to work, the effect dissipating if they are unable to sense you for more than a few seconds. The number of successes you get on your will roll count as a bonus to any subsequent powers used on the captivated targets.
Trappings: captivating eyes and voice, dumbstruck audience

Psychic Power List Part II

So, on to the actual powers. First we have animal control, astral projection and commune. Animal control is useful for indirect operations, such as spying and guarding or even attacks. Astral projection is useful for exploration or sneaky maneuvers as you're invisible and pretty much untouchable while doing so, though your body is defenseless. Commune is mostly for NPC:s and is used by cultists and priests to commune with their god for advice or to provide sacrifice and prayer. To get the most out of commune you'd need to rely on the respect and fear the god itself has.

ANIMAL CONTROL
You can communicate with and command all types of animals. You can control the animals directly or assign them simple tasks that come to them naturally (such as hunting for a hound or running for a horse.) While you can control their actions, the creatures still remain of animal intellect and cannot perform complex tasks autonomously. Animals also never voluntarily attack you, even if you’re unconscious, though your control over them ceases if this happens. If you also have possession, you can possess animals at will. They will not resist your possession.
Trappings: one or more animal parts (teeth, feathers, scales, bones, etc)

Psychic Power List Part I

I've been working on a psychic power list for a while now. I didn't want to publish any part of it until it was complete and checked and such, but then I thought, why not? After all, it might give me the motivation to finalise the list itself.
So, first of all, a couple of restrictions I gave myself when composing this list:

1. No flashy powers like pyrokinesis, especially not ones where you throw flames and fart around on firebursts like a rocket. This includes no powers that allow flight or some such as well as all kinds of magic missiles.
2. Must adhere to at least some basic science and not be just miraculous 'magic', so no teleporting and no creating something from nothing.
3. At the same time, the power should be one that can be used to emulate gothic and lovecraftian witches and other supernatural creatures to some extent. Controlling animals and weather and even time.
4. The powers themselves should be broad and easily combined. Most psychic rules disappoint me in that they are mostly lists of effects rather than powerful tools and that you can hardly ever combine the effects of two different powers in a meaningful way. Psychic powers are not spells.

Psionics and Steel

Lately I've been thinking about psychics and cybernetics. I want a simple system to bolt onto the ever-changing Dark Sorcery rules. I have a list of psionic powers that fit the type of electropunk world I'm thinking of right now, which I will probably revise and post on this blog this month.

Note that my system has no armor rules (the Steel score is effectively an armor save) and that a single damaging attack can be serious (courtesy of yet another wound system.) A simple damaging attacks causes the character to gain the Wounded status, while a Critical success causes a roll on the knockout table.

But, for now, the rules for cybernetic implants:

Lady Blackbird hack - Traits, Keys & Secrets

This is the list of Traits, Keys & Secrets I'm giving to my players to create their characters from for our hack of Lady Blackbird by John Harper. Some of the traits have been taken and modified from the Lady Blackbird companion as I found their listings quite haphazard (not surprising considering the companion is just a conglomerate of various different Lady Blackbird house rules).

Setting details are still in shift but the basic premise is an urban Victorian alchemical steampunk fantasy.

Load the PDF here.

Owl Talisman

The Owl Talisman is a magic amulet created by the Odin-worshiping druids of the north. The amulet consists of a mummified owl eye hung from a string, with three feathers pointing downwards. The carrier of the talisman can see normally in darkness. The carrier's senses are also amplified and the talisman grants him a +1 bonus to all Instinct rolls.

The Owl Talisman has additional powers when fed with the blood of humans. The active power depends on the age of the last person in whose blood the talisman was soaked in:
< 10 Years old - Can see through illusions
> 50 Years old - Gains +1 to all Lore rolls
All ages: Can see invisible things

Once activated, a power lasts only until the next full moon, after which the amulet must be fed again to gain the benefits.

Efreet emissaries

On the coasts of the Sea of Burning Sand lies a city ruled by a council of mysterious men. They are known as the Emissaries, and they secretly work for the City of Brass on the plane of fire. As their efreet lords cannot easily enter the material plane in sufficient numbers to conquer it, they have created their own breed of lawful evil humanoids by magically mixing devil and human stock.

These emissaries of the efreet are exceptional diplomats due to their infernal blood, and most have some talent in simple sorcery. Most of their talents lie outside of combat, however, and they prefer to conquer cities with their silver tongues rather than their swords. While they have some resistance to fire, the efreet do not allow the emissaries to grow too powerful lest they decide to invade the plane of fire next. The emissaries are easily identified from their stubby horns and the stripped brass half-plate that has been branded permanently to their arms and breast. All emissaries radiate an aura of law and evil.

Quick Pathfinder stats for a typical emissary: