Psychokinetics

Manipulate Sound is the ability to alter sound energy. This ability has a number of practical applications, three of which are detailed here: Voice Disguise/Mimicry, Psychic Silence, and Ventriloquism.

Voice Disguise/Mimicry uses the Psychic's ability to manipulate sound to alter her voice. She can choose to simply change the tenor of her voice (deeper, higher, etc), or attempt to actually mimic the voice of another (increase difficulty by +3 to +5, depending on the relative similarity or disparity of the psychic's voice and that of the person to be imitated). Note that this ability merely changes the voice - it does nothing to help the psychic mimic phrases of speech or peculiar pronunciations which might be unique to the target individual's speech. Likewise, it does not grant the ability to speak another language - the results outlined below assume a fluent ability in the language spoken. The duration of this ability is normally one Narrative Interval or less.

Voice Disguise/Mimicry:

Default Difficulty	Routine (5)
Marginal Success	Psychic's voice is successfully changed, but some elements of speech remain distinctively hers. If attempting to mimic another, only strangers would be fooled.
Complete Success	Psychic's voice is successfully changed. If attempting to mimic another, casual acquaintances would accept the charade, but closer associates would recognize differences.
Superior Success	Psychic's voice is successfully changed. If attempting to mimic another, most acquaintances would accept the charade, but friends or relatives would recognize differences.
Extraordinary Success	Psychic's voice is successfully changed. If attempting to mimic another, most friends would accept the charade, but close relatives (mother, siblings, etc) or lovers or best friends would have doubts.
Mythic Success	Psychic's voice is successfully changed. Even a mother would accept the voice as genuine.

Psychic Silence uses the Psychic's ability to manipulate sound to mute sounds originating with the psychic or in his immediate vicinity. The Psychic can significantly reduce or even eliminate sounds that would give him away to listeners. The difficulty of using this ability is modified by the relative noise / loudness of sounds which the Psychic is attempting to mute.

Sound	Difficulty Modifier
Very slight sounds, such as the brush of a hand across a flat surface, or the scuff of a shoe on carpet	+0
Slight sounds, such as soft footfalls or a whisper	+1
Moderately quiet sounds, such as the clink of a coin on wood, the scrape of a blade being drawn from a sheath, or heavy breathing.	+3
Moderate sounds such as low conversation, pouring a glass of water, or soft laughter	+5
Moderately loud sounds such as normal conversation, clapping hands, etc.	+7
Loud sounds such as metal on metal, shouting, etc.	+9

Use of this ability can be maintained for only a short period (several Action Intervals) without requiring another Psychic Silence Trial and the accompanying Fatigue Trial.

Psychic Silence:

Default Difficulty	Routine (7)
Marginal Success	Sound is muffled successfully, but careful listeners might detect some sound on an Intellect (Perception) Trial at +1 Difficulty.
Complete Success	Sound is muffled successfully, but careful listeners might detect some sound on an Intellect ( Perception) Trial at +3 Difficulty.
Superior Success	Sound is muffled successfully, but careful listeners might detect some sound on an Intellect ( Perception) Trial at +5 Difficulty.
Extraordinary Success	Sound is muffled successfully, but careful listeners might detect some sound on an Intellect ( Perception) Trial at +8 Difficulty.
Mythic Success	Sound is muffled successfully. No undesired sounds will be heard by any listener.

Ventriloquism uses the ability to manipulate sound to "throw" the Psychic's voice (or another sound originating with the Psychic) to a nearby location. This ability is more effective than mundane ventriloquism, since in this case the sound actually does come from somewhere else. The difficulty of throwing a sound increases with distance.

Distance	Difficulty Modifier
Within two paces	+0
3-5 paces	+1
5-10 paces	+3
10-20 paces	+5
20-50 paces	+7
50-100 paces	+9

Ventriloquism:

Default Difficulty	Routine (5)
Marginal Success	Sound is successfully thrown, but careful listeners might detect something odd about the sound on an Intellect ( Perception) Trial at +1 Difficulty.
Complete Success	Sound is successfully thrown, but careful listeners might detect something odd about the sound on an Intellect ( Perception) Trial at +3 Difficulty.
Superior Success	Sound is successfully thrown, but careful listeners might detect something odd about the sound on an Intellect ( Perception) Trial at +5 Difficulty.
Extraordinary Success	Sound is successfully thrown, but careful listeners might detect something odd about the sound on an Intellect ( Perception) Trial at +8 Difficulty.
Mythic Success	Sound is successfully thrown, and sounds genuine even to the most skeptical listener.

Manipulate Heat is the ability to manipulate heat energy. There are two major applications of this ability: Spontaneous Combustion, and Comfort.

Spontaneous Combustion is the ability to concentrate the ambient heat in the environment into a relatively small area. If this is done to flammable material, a fire will likely start. If this is done to a living being (plant, animal, etc.), burn damage can result in a small area, ranging from the equivalent of a mild sunburn to a severe localized burn. The difficulty of manipulating heat in this way varies according to the amount of ambient heat in the area and the distance from the psychic to the target.

Temperature in Area	Difficulty Modifier
Scorching hot (noon in summer in the tropics)	+0
Hot (noon in summer in temperate climate)	+1
Warm (warm spring day in temperate climate)	+3
Cool (cool autumn evening in temperate climate)	+5
Cold (winter night in a temperate climate)	+7
Bitter Cold (winter night in the arctic)	+9

Distance to Target	Difficulty Modifier
One pace	+0
2-3 paces	+1
3-5 paces	+3
5-10 paces	+5
10-20 paces	+7
20-50 paces	+9

Spontaneous Combustion:

Default Difficulty	Routine (7)
Marginal Success	Exceptionally flammable materials (grain dust, distilled alcohol) catch fire; very mild burn to living flesh (momentary pain, but no actual damage).
Complete Success	Flammable materials (lamp oil, dry wood) catch fire; flesh is mildly burnt. Target must succeed at a Routine (4) Physique (Constitution) Trial or suffer damage.
Superior Success	Flammable materials catch fire; flesh is burnt. Target must succeed at a Moderate (8) Physique (Constitution) Trial or suffer damage.
Extraordinary Success	Partially flammable materials (green wood, cloth), catch fire; flesh is burnt. Target must succeed at a Moderate (12) Physique (Constitution) Trial or suffer damage.
Mythic Success	Partially flammable materials catch fire; flesh is burnt. Target must succeed at a Challenging (16) Physique (Constitution) Trial or suffer damage.

Note: If the burning can be maintained on a target, the difficulty of Physique (Constitution) Trials will increase by one for every OP the burning is maintained on the same location. Maintaining this ability requires additional trials every other OP (essentially requiring near-continuous concentration on the target by the Psychic). Such maintained focus is usually fatiguing, since each trial requires an accompanying Fatigue Trial. A target who is moving will add to the difficulty of the Spontaneous Combustion Trial, and a target who can evade the sight of the Psychic cannot be targeted while out of sight.

Comfort is the ability to manipulate heat around the Psychic to make the environment more comfortable. Wise use of this ability can help a Psychic survive in hostile environments.

The difficulty of this ability is based on the amount of ambient heat in the environment, like Spontaneous Combustion, but changes according to whether the Psychic is trying to warm herself (in cold environments) or cool herself (in hot environments).

Temperature in Area	Difficulty to raise temperature to comfort	Difficulty to lower temperature to comfort
Scorching hot (noon in summer in the tropics)	+0	+5
Hot (noon in summer in temperate climate)	+0	+3
Warm (warm spring day in temperate climate)	+0	+1
Cool (cool autumn evening in temperate climate)	+1	+0
Cold (winter night in a temperate climate)	+3	+0
Bitter Cold (winter night in the arctic)	+5	+0

Use of Comfort for a full Narrative Interval costs the Psychic one Fatigue Level. For the purposes of this ability, a Narrative Interval is assumed to last no longer than about six hours. Longer durations will require multiple trials, and more fatigue.

Comfort:

Default Difficulty	Routine (5)
Marginal Success	Psychic's effective temperature shifts one category (i.e. from Hot to Warm) for the Narrative Interval.
Complete Success	Psychic's effective temperature shifts one category for the Narrative Interval.
Superior Success	Psychic's effective temperature shifts up to two categories for the Narrative Interval.
Extraordinary Success	Psychic's effective temperature shifts up to two categories for the Narrative Interval.
Mythic Success	Psychic's effective temperature shifts up to three categories for the Narrative Interval.

Comfort can also be used at the default difficulty to warm or cool drinks, or food, or blankets, or whatever she wishes. With a Superior success or better, the Psychic can even create small amounts of ice from water (sorbet?), or boil tea without a flame. Such uses of the ability do not cost the Psychic fatigue (not even a Fatigue Trial) unless the Psychic uses them for a long time (such as a Narrative Interval).

Manipulate Flame is the manipulation of flame (which has aspects of both heat and light, but is treated separately in Geoza). This ability is somewhat more difficult than other Psychokinetic abilities, requiring more experience in Psychokinesis to attempt. The most basic application of Manipulate Flame is to concentrate or throw flame. A Psychic with this ability could turn a common torch into something resembling a blowtorch - concentrating all the flame produced by the torch into a small cone of extremely hot flame. Or the Psychic could cause a campfire to leap out in one direction, sending a tendril of hot, concentrated fire several paces to strike an opponent. Other uses abound, but it should be noted that this ability does not grant the power to throw balls of fire at one's opponent's - this ability manipulates existing flame, it does not create it. The difficulty of this ability is based on the distance the flame is to be projected, and the size of the source fire.

Distance	Difficulty Modifier
One pace	+0
3 paces	+1
5 paces	+2
7 paces	+3
9 paces	+4
12 paces	+5
15 paces	+6

Size of Fire	Difficulty Modifier
Candle	+2
Torch / lantern	+0
Small campfire / stove / small fireplace	-2
Large campfire / large fireplace	-3
Bonfire	-4
Burning Building	-5

Manipulate Flame:

Default Difficulty	Moderate (5)
Requisite:	Psychokinesis Rank 5
Marginal Success	Routine (3) Physique (Constitution) Trial or suffer burn damage.
Complete Success	Routine (6)Physique (Constitution) Trial or suffer burn damage.
Superior Success	Moderate (9) Physique (Constitution) Trial or suffer burn damage.
Extraordinary Success	Challenging (12) Physique (Constitution) Trial or suffer burn damage.
Mythic Success	Challenging (15) Physique (Constitution) Trial or suffer burn damage.

A target struck by flames will catch fire if flammable. See the discussion of fire in ARIA Conflict.

A different use of the Manipulate Flame ability would be to quench a fire by preventing its spread and access to flammable material. This is essentially the opposite in difficulty of causing the flame to leap out (reverse the sign of the difficulty modifier for the size of the fire listed above), with the distance modifier being the distance of the Psychic from the fire to be quenched.

Manipulate Light is the ability to alter, concentrate, disperse, or otherwise manipulate light energy. The light manipulated can be sunlight, moonlight, firelight, or even light of magical origin. Applications of this ability include Phantasm, Aura, Shadow, and Lantern.

Phantasm is the alteration of ambient light - changing the color/hue of the light and/or concentrating it into transitory images or patterns. Such images or patterns are obviously phantasmal, although the source of the phantasms may not be apparent. The difficulty of doing this is based on the relative amount of ambient light, and the complexity of the phantasm.

Amount of Light	Difficulty Modifier
Bright, sunny day	+0
Cloudy, overcast day	+1
Morning before sunrise / Evening after sunset	+3
Moonlit night	+5
Firelight	+7

Phantasm Complexity	Difficulty Modifier
Simple change of hue in ambient light	+0
Simple pattern of two to three colors	+1
Complex patter of four or more colors	+3
Recognizable image, one or two colors	+5
Recognizable image, three or more colors	+7

Phantasm:

Default Difficulty	Routine (3)
Marginal Success	Alteration is successful. For images, the image is barely recognizable as the subject of the Phantasm
Complete Success	Alteration is successful. For images, the image is recognizable, but crude.
Superior Success	Alteration is successful. For images, the image is recognizable.
Extraordinary Success	Alteration is successful. For images, the image is recognizable, with moderate detail.
Mythic Success	Alteration is successful. For images, the image is recognizable, with fine detail.

Note: the aesthetic quality of any images created through this ability should be determined by an appropriate Arts skill such as painting, not the degree of success with this ability. Success with this ability merely grants the potential to make an artistic image - it gives him the paint and brushes, it doesn't paint the picture for him.

Aura is the concentration of ambient light into a bright aura about the Psychic. This can be used to merely draw attention to the Psychic, or make her more visible to an audience (like a spotlight). With greater degrees of success, It can be also used in a protective fashion, making the Psychic so bright to look at that it causes pain to the vision of an observer or opponent (this application of the ability is much more tasking: it costs the Psychic one Fatigue Level per use). The difficulty is based on the amount of ambient light (use the light chart listed under Phantasm above).

Aura:

Default Difficulty	Routine (5)
Marginal Success	Aura is visible, but faint. Count as partial or half-light for Observation purposes. No Protective benefit is gained.
Complete Success	Aura is visible. Removes any penalty to Observation for low light or darkness. No protective benefit is gained.
Superior Success	Aura is visible. Removes any penalty to Observation for low light or darkness. If protective brightness is desired, opponents will add +1 to difficulty of attacking Psychic.
Extraordinary Success	Aura is visible. Removes any penalty to Observation for low light or darkness. If protective brightness is desired, opponents will add +3 to difficulty of attacking Psychic.
Mythic Success	Aura is visible. Removes any penalty to Observation for low light or darkness. If protective brightness is desired, opponents will add +5 to difficulty of attacking Psychic.

Note that protective benefits should decrease with distance from the Psychic - a bright aura which makes the Psychic harder to look at (and therefore strike) in melee might actually help an archer who is some distance away.

Shadow is the manipulation of light away from the Psychic, so that the Psychic is shaded from light, or so that the area around the Psychic is more shadowy than before. It is possible, although very difficult, for the Psychic to completely remove light from his immediate vicinity. Light which is dispersed away from the Psychic will actually increase the ambient light in the area away from the Psychic. Greater degrees of success will reduce the ability to notice this side-effect by dispersing the light over a greater area away from the Psychic.

Difficulty is based on the amount of ambient light.

Amount of Light	Difficulty Modifier
Bright, sunny day	+11
Cloudy, overcast day	+9
Morning before sunrise / Evening after sunset	+7
Moonlit night	+5
Firelight	+3
Torchlight	+1
Starlight	+0

Note: in Geoza, reducing the amount of sunlight striking a Persona in this manner does nothing to reduce the amount of heat from the sun - Manipulate Heat would have to be used for that purpose. But shade from this ability would protect the Persona from glare and the danger of sun-blindness.

Shadow:

Default Difficulty	Routine (7)
Marginal Success	Mild shade. No penalty to observation.
Complete Success	Mild shade or light shadow. Slight Hindrance to Observation. Ambient light outside of shadowed area is noticeably brighter.
Superior Success	Heavy shade or moderate shadow. Hindrance to Observation. Ambient light outside of shadowed area is somewhat brighter, but only noticeable with careful observation.
Extraordinary Success	Heavy shadow. Considerable Hindrance to Observation. Ambient light outside of shadowed area is not noticeably brighter.
Mythic Success	Darkness. Severe Hindrance to Observation. Ambient light outside of shadowed area is not noticeably brighter.

Lantern is the concentration of light from a light source into a tight beam of bright light, similar to a shuttered lantern with reflective mirrors. This is normally done to the light from a torch or campfire to improve observation in a specific direction. This effect has the advantage that the holder of the light source is not clearly visible to other observers, since little radiated light is striking him. Difficulty is based on the size of the light source - higher degrees of success result in progressively brighter concentrations of light, and thus greater distance.

Light Source	Difficulty Modifier
Large fire	+7
Small fire	+5
Torch	+3
Candle	+1
Match	+0

Lantern:

Default Difficulty	Routine (5)
Marginal Success	Most light from the source is concentrated in a given direction, small amounts of light continue to radiate from the source normally. Light projects up to twice as far in the desired direction as normal.
Complete Success	Light from the source projects up to three times as far in the desired direction. Very slight amounts of light continue to radiate from the source normally.
Superior Success	Light from the source projects up to five times as far in the desired direction. No light radiates from the source except in the desired direction.
Extraordinary Success	Light from the source projects up to seven times as far in the desired direction. No light radiates from the source except in the desired direction.
Mythic Success	Light from the source projects up to ten times as far in the desired direction. No light radiates from the source except in the desired direction.