[Torg] All the TORG supers stuff you never asked for

[Benjamin Grant]

We have a game group here that has been playing TORG since the Heroes TV show launched - and that was our inspiration.  However, we soon took our world and our heroes and villains far beyond that show.  (I personally introduced TORG to the group, having played it off and on since TORG's release.)

 

We do not use the Cosm war, or any of the pre-gen cosms.  Our universe is a single cosm, with no other cosms existing.  Therefore stuff relating to Axioms, Cosms, Disconnection, Stellae, Everlaws, Reality Bubble, Storm Knights, Eternity Shards, Possibility Wars, High Lords, etc, are all bypassed.  We do have different dimensions within the universe, but all the axioms/world laws/etc are fundamentally the same in each.

 

In effect, we are using TORG to play a single genre game - the Comic genre, as we have been defining it.  While there is Magic and Super Science, these are actually forms of superpower. Therefor we also do not use any of the Torg pre-existing powers, such as Torg Magic, Miracles, Pulp Abilities, etc.

 

Anyways, I recently wrote up for our group a listing of all the different ways we structure powers mechanically.  I thought that essay might be either inspirational or useful for other Torg players so here it is.  Please forgive any references to stuff from our game as examples, where the reference makes no sense.


Torg Supers, Merits, and Flaws


 

Just thought I would do a quick write-up of the different ways to make supers in Torg, based on the various games we have experienced.

 

I suppose I should start with a definition of what a super is.  A super is a character with one or more abilities that normal people do not or cannot possess.  Normally, one cannot choose to be a super – there aren’t any reliable ways to gain powers.

 

At a fundamental level, supers are special.  Torg already has two kinds of characters, possibility-rated character and ordinary non possibility-rated characters called “ords”.  Supers are to possibility rated characters as possibility rated characters are to ords.  All supers are possibility-rated, but only a very small percentage of possibility rated characters are supers.

 

All supers have one thing beyond being possibility rated in common: for some reason, they have been “chosen” by the universe.  Different factors can lead to powers:

·         extreme emotion, such as losing a loved one,

·         being related to supers, such as the Royces,

·         Exposure through being at the right/wrong place at the right/wrong time, such as a freak accident involving N-ray exposure, or exposure to forbidden powers,

·         being powerless when everything is on the line,

·         and sometimes, seemingly randomly, a super is born.

 

However, countless people experience the above situations without ever developing super abilities.  So while the above are factors that are frequently present in the development of an emerging super, even these factors are not enough.  No one knows quite how or why certain people make that final leap into being a super, while the majority of people in similar circumstances never do.  It’s a mystery.

 

In mechanical terms, there are two ways that supers get placed into the game.  One obvious way is when a player decides he wants to play a super, designs one, and the GM approves.  While the player creating the backstory for his character will frequently incorporate one or more of the above elements, the final reason why that character is a super (beyond the out-of-game reality of the player wanting to play a super) is and will always be ultimately a mystery.

 

The other way for supers to mechanically arrive in the story is also obvious – the GM puts them there.  The GM obviously has to create NPCs with super abilities – he simply decides which NPCs are supers and which are not.

 

Both methods ultimately are justified not through in game explanation, but for the good of drama and the overall story out-of-game.

 

Since, supers are *super*, leaving the final bit a mystery of why those particular people became supers instead of not I think keeps the game feeling superheroic.  If you explain away that last bit of “why”, you will probably end of with a Sci-Fi or Fantasy campaign, instead of a superhero one.

 

The aspect of “how” should also be addressed.  Super abilities, by their very nature, defy physics.  If the GM makes sure to not permit supers to violate physics, you always wind up with supers that aren’t very super.

 

For example, if a teleporter travel to the other side of the world, does the Coriolis force smash him sideway into a wall?  If a teleporter is falling, does he have the same speed and momentum after he teleports?  If someone turns invisible, so that light passes through them, wouldn’t they be blind, because no light is hitting their retina?  If someone stops time, how can they move, since the air surrounding them is frozen?  For that matter, how can they breathe?  For that matter, how can they see, when light itself has stopped moving?  If a superstrong and supertough hero tries to stop a runaway locomotive, why isn’t the character either knocked aside or driven into the ground, as the weight of the character compared to the weight of the train is insignificant?  Or, if the character can increase his weight to compensate, how come he doesn’t fall through what he is standing on, with that much weight focused on that small area of his soles?  If a character can fly (or run) at high speeds, how come he doesn’t suffer the air friction and extreme heat that something entering our atmosphere does?

 

I could go on and on without end – superpowers are not minor exemptions to one particular feature of the world, they are wholesale repudiations of physics on every level.

 

This is important, because it says something about how super powers work in general in the world of the story.  Ultimately, when a super uses a power – say a super turns invisible, the super is not just altering themselves so that light passes through or around them.  Like I said, if that was all that was going on, the super would be blind.  No, the super is altering the *universe* so that they are not *seen* - by people, cameras, etc – despite the fact that they *ought* to be.  The super is in fact altering and editing reality directly.  Whether they realize it or not, *this* is the ultimate meaning of being a super.

 

The Royces weren’t far off when they maintained that supers were demigods.  After all, in most mythology, the only entities that have direct power over reality *were* gods.  And because these powers trump reality, override physics, and such, they can *never* be explained by science, as science is limited to reality and physics by definition. 

 

Ultimately, in truth, a super is a being that can edit reality to some extent, channeled through the super’s particular manifestation of power.  For example, just because a super can turn invisible does not necessarily mean she can turn other people invisible or make herself invisible to radar.  She may have auxiliary abilities like that, or she may not, largely depending in-game on the logic and consistency of her manifestation of ability – and largely dependent out-of-game on GM choice.

 

Given that these supers are in reality demigods of a sense, what prevents them from doing *anything* that they want?  If the Invisible Girl can alter reality, why can’t she just do whatever she want with it?

 

In a very real way, powers are limitations.  Being able to turn invisible isn’t ultimately a “power”, as it turns out, its kind of limitation.  It’s like saying to someone, “you have the ability to alter reality at your command – but *only* in this particular way.”  But why is this limitation present at all?  Why aren’t  some of these supers simply gods?  This is my theory:

 

There is power and then there is Power.  We humans have become quite powerful (with a small “p”) with our technologies, medicines, and what not, controlling more and more of our destiny.  Among us, certain individuals are more powerful yet (still with a small “p”) – such as Bill Gates or Warren Buffet.  However, in these stories we tell of people with super abilities, they have Power with a capital P, because they are directly commanding reality itself.  As a being’s thoughts more and more directly control the shape and nature of reality through exerting will, the gap between wanting something and getting it becomes smaller and smaller.  If that gap begins to disappear – if there starts to be little difference between desire and result, the being in question becomes less and less a sentient (and sane) entity, and more and more like a force of nature – a natural law, like gravity.

 

So an entity with the power to alter reality without limit swiftly loses the gap between choosing to act and reaping results, to the point that this entity becomes a force of reality, no longer a sentient being.

 

Super powers, in a way, prevent this from occurring.  Super powers put the brakes on, they permit *some* alteration of reality, but only some.  Super powers may even be a self-protective mechanism to prevent us from losing our minds, sanity, and sentience, which would occur with unlimited reality altering abilities.

 

One might theorize that the shape of a super’s powers – which powers they wind up with and how they work – might be influenced by the subconscious needs or desires of the person.  Or maybe, they are shaped by circumstance.  Alternatively, much of super powers may be random.  No one knows, though there are hints that it may not always be *completely* random.

 

Now, super powers that are mega powerful, like Kavi Rehnu’s ability, are only a small step from having no limits at all.  A similar thing could be said of Captain Geometry – his power is really quite staggering.  These people can develop mental issues, becoming partially insane, due to the shrinking of that gap I mentioned above.  However, another reason for their mental peculiarities may be that these oddities – such as Captain Geometry’s persona or Kavi Rehnu’s god complex – are extreme self-protective measures automatically taken to *reinsert* an impediment, to widen that gap – to prevent themselves from being lost.  In Captain Geometry’s case, it is a reflex and not a conscious choice.  In Kavi’s case, it’s a conscious choice based on her understanding of what’s at stake.

 

This threat of losing oneself is real, and the more power one has, the more one needs to offset it.  Even Jason, with his weenie Sight power, runs a very real if small risk by using Magic in addition to his natural power.  And anytime one person has two full powers, things can get bad fast.  The only person known to have a large number of powers without utterly losing herself was Heidi, and she only was able to manage it through submerging more and more of herself to the one goal of Omega.  

 

Power with a capital “P” carries with it a very real danger.  The only way to avoid its ultimate trap is to limit one’s exposure (by only having one main powerset) or to find some other way of balancing the extra power with extra limits.

 

Now let’s come to the meat and potatoes section – the mechanics at our disposal to create rules for supers.  There are six:  Stunt powers, Absolute powers, Pool powers, Aspect Powers, Domain powers, and Universal powers. 

 

·         Stunt powers are the kinds of powers usually seen in the Heroes TV show, and the kinds of powers we started with.  With this mechanic, the super has an overall ability – such as Jack Vick with Stasis.  This ability is purchased as a skill, usually based on Spirit.  The number of adds in the power skill governs how many stunts you may have.  Raising the power skill costs the standard amount, mastering and buying a new power Stunt costs 2 possibilities.  You can use an unmastered power stunt, but you take one shock point if you do.  Also, an unmastered power stunt will require a roll, however you can add +2 to the roll for 1 shock point, multiple times if you like.  

The process is this: decide how much extra shock you are willing to spend/take before you roll, then roll.  If your total is still insufficient and you still have time to accomplish your goal (ie, you haven’t failed yet) you can add in more shock each round as you like, until you succeed, give up, go unconscious, or the opportunity to succeed has passed.  Normally you will not need to roll to use a mastered Stunt, however, if you do, you still have the option of taking shock for +2 per shock to the roll.

One other option – if the action is time sensitive or you only have one shot to make a power roll, you can simply tell the GM that you will spend as many shock points as necessary for success.  This will end in one of two ways: success, or unconsciousness for the character.

It is recommended that with Stunt based supers, the GM be more flexible to unusual or wide scope uses with very limited powers, like “power of books” and more inflexible with stricter oversight with larger themed powers such as “Force”.  Also, the use of a stunt to create an unnatural state should be limited in one or more ways.  For example, Jack Vick could “freeze” something, but when Jack got far enough away, it unfroze.  This limitation should be able to be countered and the state made (semi)permanent through the use of a possibility.



·         Absolute powers are just that – a power that gives a character one or two absolute abilities.  Even Jack Vick’s Stasis power wasn’t absolute, there were times it failed (the Tormentor) and it had limitations (if not made permanent) such as range.  An excellent example of this kind of character is David Dunn from the movie Unbreakable.  David Dunn has only two abilities:  he has unlimited Toughness and (eventually) unlimited Strength.

This kind of character does not develop Stunts – all they can do is their one or two tricks – but those tricks are the most massive and unlimited of any super.  While this is balanced by the fact that they only get one or two abilities, and by the fact that they cannot develop any more uses, it is still recommend that at least one major flaw or disadvantage is also required to counterbalance this massive power.  David Dunn, for example, has a massive weakness: when he is partially or completely submerged in water, not only does he lose his powers, he loses some access to his possibilities.  (Jeff ran it that he loses all access to his possibilities, to me that’s too harsh and in conflict with the base spirit of Torg – I would rule that all possibility costs are doubled or tripled while submerged.)



·         Pool powers are like Stunt powers, but different.  With pool powers, the character has a pool of power points that starts off very small, but increases as the character develops.  This represents how much power the character has access to at any one time – such as during a single round.  The character also has a list of four to seven powers in the set that he develops and unlocks over time, usually fairly quickly.  Unlike Stunt powers, these four to seven powers do not have to be paid for to be developed, but also unlike Stunt powers, these powers are limited by how many pool points are allocated to them moment to moment.

One example of this kind of character is The Patriot.  His powerset centers around the control of Force, and he has five different powers:  

o   Force Blast – an energy beam of pushing Force

o   Force Armor – which increases his Toughness vs Damage.

o   Force Field – Tuneable Force walls that he can project and shape, to protect or entrap.

o   Force Flight – the ability to fly at extreme speeds

o   Force Sensing – a sense power that works like radar


The Patriot got these powers in his first arc as a character.  However, even though he had all these powers, he had a very small pool of Force Points in his first arc – barely enough to power a single ability.  (For the Patriot, his Force Point Pool is set as 3 times his power adds in the related power skill, plus his Spirit.  So if he has a +3 in Force Mastery and a 9 Spirit, he would have (3*3)+9 Force Points in his power pool, or 18 power pool points.)  This meant that if he wanted to do a 18 DV(Damage Value) Blast he would have to allocate 18 Force pool points to his blasting ability that round, and if that’s all he had he wouldn’t be able to fly around, protect himself with a force field, use force sensing, etc at least until next round.  Allocating pool points is a zero-time action, but once a pool point is allocated is cannot be re-allocated until next round.

Currently the Patriot has a Force Mastery of +11, and a Spirit of 10, yielding 43 Force pool points.  This is enough to Fly at moderate speed, wear moderate Force Armor, and be able to use a good strength Force Blast.  (For example, Flight speed of 12 is 56 mph, Force Armor of 8 adds 8 to his Toughness, and that leaves him with 23 Force pool points to shoot with this round.)  There are a few additional wrinkles – his Force Blast could be a beam, an arc, or a PBAoE; when shooting a target he used his Targetting skill to determine whether or not he hit, he had a Flight skill for how skillfully he flew, Flight at fast speeds makes him harder to hit, etc.

 

·         Aspect Powers are powers like what Artur has.  Four to Seven Aspects are chosen, each Aspect is treated as a separate skill that goes from one to six.  Normally, this character cannot start at higher than one in each aspect.  As each Aspect is raised, it unlocks more and more of that Aspect for use.  For example, the Monk had six Aspects: Air/Telepathy, Water/Teleportation, Earth/Healing, Fire/Action, Heart/Sincerity, and Harmony/Inviolability.

Although not required, frequently one of the Aspects is set as a “key” Aspect.  This Aspect is limited to not be able to be raised higher than the lowest other Aspect that they have.  For Monk, Harmony was the key Aspect, meaning that if his lowest (non-Harmony) Aspect was a 2 in Air, then Monk’s Harmony could not be raised higher than 2 until Air was raised.

An example of a single Aspect’s progression is Monk’s Water Aspect, his Teleportation Aspect.  Here it is for example:

 

Water: The power to flow or cause others to flow – teleportation.



Mechanics: This is not an incremental power.  For example, at Teleportation level 3, can TP self to any visible or familiar location, regardless of range.  Limitations include not being able to be directly used on unwilling participants without a contested willpower roll. (Their gear, weapons, etc are not protected.)  Also, Monk can teleport himself as a “movement” action, and still have a standard action to use in the current round, so long as he performs no other movement or self-teleport actions that round.

Note: all levels of Water are considered Active.



·         Level  1: Can “blip” self within range of direct perception. (not including live video feed)

·         Level  2: Can move 1 object or object group(such as a container and everything in it from point A to point B within range of direct perception. Weight limitation is around 125 pounds.

·         Level  3: TP self, visible or familiar locations only. (includes live video feeds)

·         Level  4: TP people or large objects – up to 1 ton, still 1 object/container/person = 1 action, same range as level 3.

·         Level  5: TP to any imagined (but real) location. A picture of a place will do, or simply knowledge of it (NYC, Times Square).  Even using a piece of an object or person as a connection, such as having a headlight from an accident, and being able to TP to the car it came from.

·         Level  6: TP many heavy objects/people.  Total weight of 2 tons, any number of objects/people within a radius range of 20 meters). Same travel range as level 5. 

 

The trick in constructing the Aspects is to tightly bind the six levels within a single concept – after gaining all six levels of each Aspect he has, the Super should not have 30+ different powers, but more like a half dozen powers with variations.  And it is unavoidable that some Aspects are going to be weaker and less useful than others – Monk’s Heart Aspect, which allows him to reveal his sincerity can be useful, but it’s not Teleportation.

An Aspect power character can be one of the most powerful supers, and as such should be carefully considered and vetted by a GM.  Special Disadvantages may even need to be brought into play, like a particularly powerful Aspect being a Key Aspect, or Monks vulnerability to any instrument of suicide.

 

·         Domain powers are next, or as they can be called, “list of ten” powers.  This is where a character has greater and greater mastery over a single domain, such as Cad Calloway’s growing Mastery of Speed.  This is structured as a list of ten powers of increasing effectiveness until at level 10 the character becomes one with the Domain they are connected to.  Domain power characters must start with only one level in the power, which then costs a normal amount to raise as any skill add does.  There is a further limitation to how quickly a Domain power can be raised: the checkmark system.  That is, you not only have to spend the possibilities, you need to have enough checkmarks to “unlock” the power.

Every scene in which such a character uses his Domain power in a cool or interesting way, they get a checkmark.  They can get a maximum of one checkmark per session.  An extraordinary use of the power may qualify, under GM discretion, for an extra checkmark that session– but this would be on the order of a Domain power Glory, or something similar.  It almost goes without saying that all checkmarks are erased when buying the next level of the power.

The Speed power levels check mark requirements are as follows: no checks for level One, levels Two and Three require 1 check each, levels Four and Five require 3 checks each, levels Six and Seven require 5 checks each, and levels Eight and Nine require 7 checks each.  Level Ten cannot be gained without express GM permission.

This makes it take a minimum of 32 sessions to go from one to ten – about equal to what the other powers take to become fully effective. 

It should be noted that typically Domain Power characters are on the most “train-track” like path of growth – most of the other power structures have more flexibility.  On the other hand, at the higher levels, the powers that these supers wield in their chosen Domain can be quite awesome and legendary.

·         Universal supers may not seem to be supers at first, but they are.  Universal Powers are those that can be accessed by many, universal systems or mechanics that many different characters can partake of.  Two obvious examples are Magic and Weird Science/Gadgets.  The rules for these powers are the same from user to user, yet these powers most definitely *are* super powers, even if they are not unique. Simply studying Magic or Weird Science does not grant one access to these abilities – though it is normally a prerequisite.

Anyone who can use Magic, Weird Science, or any other Universal Power *is* a P-Positive super.  Now, it’s possible that a blueprint or spell designed by one character may be able to be learned and/or used by another character who partakes of the same Universal power – for example, if one Weird Science character makes a Flight belt, another Weird Science character might learn how to use it successfully.  However, in the hands of someone without the Weird Science Universal power, the device would not function properly – and may even malfunction.  Ultimately, the reason these Universal Powers work is because the character using them *makes* them work, in the same way that other powered characters make *their* powers work.  There is no foundational difference between the Magic super and the super who can Freeze things – both are supers, and both have a power.

There are some considerations for Universal power users that are different, however.  First of all, it is imperative for the GM to realize that unlike every other power, there is no limit on how much power you can eventually attain using Universal powers.  For example, using magic, you can ultimately design a spell to do almost *anything*.  There is also no limit to how many spells you can know or have access to – as the character adventures, he will design and learn more and more, without limit.  Therefore, these Universal systems need another limiting factor or two, to make them no more powerful overall than the other five kinds of supers.  Two limitations are generally necessary for such open ended systems:  Use limitations, and Acquisition limitations.

Use limitations limit how frequently the Universal Powers can be brought into play.  With Weird Science, charges and components limit how often the devices can be used.  With Magic, pre-casting limits how many spells are ready to be instacast, and more powerful spells use up more pre-casting “slots”.  Because the Universal Power represents nigh unlimited access to power over time, a strict restriction must be placed on how much of that vast power can be brought to bear off the cuff and in the moment.  Another use limitation is a skill, required to use/alter the power trick – such as a spell casting skill or a jury-rig skill.  Generally speaking, one can’t even use a spell, gadget, etc of a higher level than one’s skill.

Acquisition limitations limit how easily and often a new manifestation of power, such as a new gadget or spell, can be added to one’s bag of tricks.  This can be an even more important limit to be strict about, because not only can a gadget, spell, or other manifestation be created for *any* need, but once the spell or blueprint has been designed, the Universal power character is irrevocably more powerful.  With magic, great time, effort, and resources are required to design a spell, especially if it’s a powerful one.  Another acquisition is a skill required to create/design spells or blueprints, such as Magic Theory or Gadget Design.  Generally, one can’t even design a spell, gadget, etc, of a higher level than one’s skill.

 

These then are the complete list of power structures available at this time:

·         Stunt Powers: One basic ability that is leveraged into different stunts over time

·         Absolute Powers: One or two basic infinite abilities that don’t change over time

·         Pool Powers: gaining several abilities up front that are powered by a growing pool of points

·         Aspect Powers:  having several aspects of powers, each with six levels, that slowly advance

·         Domain Powers: A list of ten ascending powers that one gains over time in one Domain

·         Universal Powers: Power Systems, like Magic, that are accessed by many and are not Unique


There are two other notes about powers.  With two types, Aspect and Domain powers, one is limited at start to level one – with Aspect Powers, you can only start out with one in each Aspect (which you still pay for at character creation) while with Domain Powers, you can only start with one in the Domain (which you also pay for) out of ten.

 

An alternative way to jumpstart these two kinds of supers is a compromise rule:  Let the player start out at up to three, but unlike normal, each level purchased costs separately.

 

For example, a Domain based character that wants to start at level 3 out of 10 would have to pay 1+2+3, or 6 skill points.  An Aspect based character that wanted to start out with two level 2 Aspects and one level 3 Aspect, would pay 1+2, or 3 for each level 2 Aspect and 1+2+3, or 6 for the level three Aspect, for a total of 12 starting skill points (without even counting the skill points needed to start at level one in the other Aspects the character has.)

This is in comparison to how skills normally work – for example, someone who takes Spellcasting (or Dodge, or any normal skill whether super or not) at level 3 as a starting character normally pays only 3 skill points to start with the a +3.  If the GM is willing allow Domain and Aspect based characters to start at higher than level 1 in their Aspects or Domain, then they simply need to pay for *each* level of those abilities, making a +2 cost 3 skill points and a +3 cost 6 skill points.

 

Finally, Merits and Flaws should be touched upon.  Merits and Flaws are both the same thing, except one is positive (generally) and one is not.  They represent a basic quality or ability that is not as detailed as a skill or power, and come in three levels: Minor, Major, and Superior.  One example of a Merit is Cad Calloway’s Level 3 Merit named Rockstar.  As a Superior Merit, it gives him fame, money, and the other rewards of being a world famous successful rock’n’roll musician.

 

However, Merits can also be supernatural sources of ability.  Blake’s character got rewarded with the Power of Night Merit from the Queen of Night herself.  As a power, Merit based abilities frequently while stunningly powerful (especially Major and Superior ones) usually have a high cost, such as the expenditure of a possibility per use or per scene.

Merits can also be a personal code of ethics, such as Jack’s Heroic Merit.   Not only did this enable Jack to stick to his guns without willpower rolls in many circumstances, it made it obvious to many – and to the universe as a whole, that he was committed to his path.  It also made it easier for him to see among his choices which were more heroic and which were less so – and which were downright unheroic.

 

No matter the type of Merit, the first level costs 5 possibilities to acquire (and a darn good story reason why or how), the second level costs 10 possibilities, and the third and final level costs 15 possibilities.  Starting out with a Merit as a starting character normally costs 1 attribute point (from your starting total of 66) for a level 1 Merit, 2 attribute points for a level 2 Merit, and 3 attribute points for a level 3 Merit.

 

Flaws are the opposite of Merits, but equally powerful.  The only time why a player would voluntarily take a Flaw usually would be to offset a Merit for a starting character if one did not want to lose attribute points, or if one wanted to start out with more attribute points than 66.  Every level of Flaw that a starting character takes yields an extra attribute point.

 

It should be noted that Flaws are VERY bad.  Having a level 1 Flaw can lead a character towards a terrible fate, having a level 2 Flaw means that there is little he can do to avoid an unpleasant end, and a level 3 Flaw means his fate is sealed.  For example, a level 1 Flaw could be impaired hearing or sight (-5 to all such rolls), a level 2 Flaw could be deaf or blind, and a level 3 Flaw could be deaf *and* blind.

The other use of Flaws is as negative consequences.  If a player fails a test of character, as John/Jack Vick did, he may gain a Flaw.  If a player suffers a negative consequence, such as being Cursed by a powerful vampire, that may constitute a Flaw.  A negative consequence should be made a Flaw if:

·         The player earned it through their actions or lack of understanding (the stick part of the carrot and the stick), or

·         the consequence is expected to last for a significant time and/or be a significant focus for that character, or

·         the player wishes to acquire it for dramatic purposes (such as a “Lost Love” personality Flaw.)

 

Flaws gained as negative consequences do not reward the player in any way, and provide no resources.

One other way to gain a Flaw is at the same time as a new Merit is gained, for the purpose of evening out the cost to zero.  This is not a negative consequence Flaw, but a “balance” Flaw.  If the character is about to gain a Merit, and cannot or chooses not to pay for it with his possibilities, the cost of gaining the Merit can be offset by gaining an equal number of Flaws to make up for it.  For example, gaining a level 3 Merit: Control of Time can be offset by the Flaws: Level 2 Flaw: Commandeered by Oracle of Time and Level 1 Flaw:  Always jittery due to micro time blips, -2 to all rolls.

 

Of course, it would be better for the player just to pay the possibilities and avoid the Flaws entirely.

 

There you have it.  Enjoy.

 

-Benn Grant

eFix Computer Consulting

benn at 4eFix.com

603.283.6601

 

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