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Aberrant RPG - Mega-Mental & Mega-Social Feats


Sprocket

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-You can write speeches that make even Ben Stein awe-inspiring.

That's got to be a Mega-Wits 10 feat, considering the schmuck we're talking about. ::laugh ::devil Still, I think we'd want something more noticeably epic than making a guy with the personality & intellect of wet cardboard seem awe-inspiring to most of the baseline masses. ::sly

This sounds more like a Perception thing, unless you mean they mentally react so fast that they effectively cannot be surprised by a baseline? If so I have to wonder about sniping from say a klick out, would that still the benefits of surprise?

I think that "mentally react so fast that they effectively cannot be surprised by a baseline" was what metaphysician meant, yes. As to Mega-Wits as a defense against long-range snipers, I don't have an answer for that.

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Sounds like M-Wits 2 AFAICT, or is it M-Wits 3 the point where multiple base Attributes (good ratings in base Appearance, Manipulation & Charisma used in tandem) cannot overcome it?
Assume Willpower of 3, M-Wits of 3, that's an average of... 3.9.

Or roughly what a maxed out baseline would throw (i.e. 10 dice for 4.0 succ). I'm not sure how a baseline would "use them in tandem".

Of course we're not really assuming a maxed out baseline and we're also not assuming perfectly average defense rolls, but let's just say that they balance. So M-Wits 3 does it.

M-Wits 2 would do it *most* of the time... which sort of implies it's not really a feat.

This one's definitely of a higher caliber. Considering the capabilities & resources of the U.S. Navy SEALs (for example), I'd peg this at M-Wits 5. M-Wits 4 might be plausible, though.

At first glance, I'd peg this at M-Wits 4. I know people can be *very* predictable, but this could border on some telepaths' annoying habit of not letting others finish speaking before answering them. Lots of fun.

I'd lean towards making combat applications harder.
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This sounds more like a Perception thing, unless you mean they mentally react so fast that they effectively cannot be surprised by a baseline? If so I have to wonder about sniping from say a klick out, would that still the benefits of surprise?
I'm not sure if there's a difference between "surprise" and "ambush". M-Wits shouldn't prevent an ambush under those conditions, but having been ambushed he shouldn't be surprised unless there are powers involved.

But I don't have my book in front of me.

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OK, so we can peg most of these now. ::cool Going by the feedback from you lot, the M-Wits mini-chart is now as follows:

Mega-Wits

• 1 dot: Without having to pay attention, walk through a crowd of oncoming pedestrians without ever being jostled or touched.

• 2 dots: Read two (or more) books or viewscreens simultaneously.

• 3 dots: Non-Inspired social Abilities can no longer affect you against your own will.

• 4 dots: Can predict/finish other people's sentences by looking at their faces.

• 5 dots: Retain your composure in the face of a credible, immediate opportunity to acquire your Heart's Desire.

• 6 dots: It is impossible to ambush you without the use of superhuman abilities.

• 7 dots: x.

• 8 dots: x.

• 9 dots: x.

• 10 dots: x.

Re: "It is impossible to ambush you without the use of superhuman abilities"-

I've no problem with pegging it at M-Wits 6 if you folks think it's plausible.

Re: The rest of Forge's latest batch-

-You can predict actions up to three turns in advance.

Is this applicable as a M-Wits feat?

-You can separate truth and falsehoods from even the most grey communication.

AFAIK, that sort of thing is covered by Mega-Manipulation.

-The stock market is your plaything.

Possible, except that not every quick-thinker will be an uber-businessperson.

EDIT: Fixed feat mini-chart as per suggestions #1 & 3 in post #125.

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RE: Mundane

Can we use the word "baseline" here instead? Or maybe, un-inspired?

RE: 3 Moves ahead

Mechanically this is a nightmare.

Re: "It is impossible to ambush you without superhuman abilities"-

I like it at 6.

RE: The stock market is your plaything.

It's do-able, even if you aren't a biz guy.

Assume you need 4+ succ with a Biz of zero... No, correction. You need 5+ succ over that 4 succ, or 9. So with M-Wits 7 or 8 and a Biz of zero you're just blowing away any baseline (and presumably the market attracts 10 die baseline types).

But if that's what we're doing we need to rephrase it so it's stronger.

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Re: Suggestions #1 & 3-

The suggested fixes have been made in post #124 & the main document.

Re: 3 Moves Ahead-

Then we can't use it. Hammering out this appendix is enough of a headache as it is.

Re: The stock market is your plaything-

Fair enough. I'll gladly use whatever reworded version you can come up with.

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-You can separate truth and falsehoods from even the most grey communication.

AFAIK, that sort of thing is covered by Mega-Manipulation.

In defense of my suggestion, Lie Detector is a Mega-Wits Enhancement. As well; Rapport is a Wits skill, which is specifically related to detecting truth.

On the other side, I am just throwing stuff out, so I don't care if it gets used or not.::happy

But if that's what we're doing we need to rephrase it so it's stronger.

- Not even knowing the difference between a 'Bear' or 'Bull' economy, the global stock market is still your plaything. ::ultracool

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Re: You can separate truth and falsehoods from even the most grey communication-

Just got my Aberrant corebook out of temp. storage, & I stand corrected. That said, this feat is sort of vague/obscure as to its effects (i.e. "grey communication"). Instead, how about something like this:

>Attempts to deceive the nova through lying by omission or equivocation or through using half-truths are as obvious to her as the most blatant lies told by a four-year-old baseline child.

Re: Winning in business w/out Biz-

The business world isn't one I'm really familiar with, so I'll go along with whatever you lot think would work best. It also strikes me that this "high Mega-Attribute plus zero skill" feat could explain quite a bit of the economic disruption that led up to the Aberrant War. ::devil

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Not even knowing the difference between a 'Bear' or 'Bull' economy, the global stock market is still your plaything.

*Very* Good! Much better than mine. I think we have a winner. :)

Fair enough. So, are we pegging this at M-Wits 7 or 8?

Re: Uber-deception detection feat-

Provided that my rewrite of this feat is acceptable, what are we going to peg this at? I'm tempted to peg it at M-Wits 9, just since it doesn't sound quite as epic as the other M-Attribute 10 feats done so far.

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Re: You can separate truth and falsehoods from even the most grey communication-

Just got my Aberrant corebook out of temp. storage, & I stand corrected. That said, this feat is sort of vague/obscure as to its effects (i.e. "grey communication"). Instead, how about something like this:

>Attempts to deceive the nova through lying by omission or equivocation or through using half-truths are as obvious to her as the most blatant lies told by a four-year-old baseline child.

how about...

- Attempting to deceive you by omission, equivocation, or even the most subtle half-truths are as obvious as the most blatant lies told by a four-year-old.

I took out 'baseline' because I thought the distinction in the comparison was obvious enough and it seemed overly descriptive to me. ::ohmy

And having a 3 1/2 year old, it is amazing the kind of stuff they come up with from time to time, e.g.

Riley (my son): I'm strong [flexes muscles and holds breath till face turns red]

Me: Yes you are, where did you get your muscles from? Dada or Mama?

Riley: [Pauses in thought a moment] I got them from Target! [like Wal-mart more or less for those that may not know it]

Me: [Laughing] Oh! From Target huh...where do they keep their muscles?

Riley: By the trains! [As in Thomas the] ::laugh

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Fair enough. So, are we pegging this at M-Wits 7 or 8?

Re: Uber-deception detection feat-

Provided that my rewrite of this feat is acceptable, what are we going to peg this at? I'm tempted to peg it at M-Wits 9, just since it doesn't sound quite as epic as the other M-Attribute 10 feats done so far.

I would say Mega Wits 8 and 9 respectively IMO.

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Attempting to deceive you by omission, equivocation, or even the most subtle half-truths are as obvious as the most blatant lies told by a four-year-old.

::sly You haven't read Aberrant: A Breed Apart, have you? Second generation nova four-year-olds with the Precocity enhancement can have Mega-Manipulation as well. ::devil

Anyhow, I think your rewrite of my rewrite ( ::laugh ) will work just fine.

Re: Pegging feats-

So it's the following:

• 8 dots: Not even knowing the difference between a "Bear" or "Bull" economy, the global stock market is still your plaything.

• 9 dots: Attempting to deceive you by omission, equivocation, or even the most subtle half-truths are as obvious as the most blatant lies told by a four-year-old.

What do the rest of you folks think?

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Re: M-Wits feats mini-chart-

OK, the mini-chart currently reads as follows:

Mega-Wits

• 1 dot: Without having to pay attention, walk through a crowd of oncoming pedestrians without ever being jostled or touched.

• 2 dots: Read two (or more) books or viewscreens simultaneously.

• 3 dots: Non-Inspired social Abilities can no longer affect you against your own will.

• 4 dots: Can predict/finish other people's sentences by looking at their faces.

• 5 dots: Retain your composure in the face of a credible, immediate opportunity to acquire your Heart's Desire.

• 6 dots: It is impossible to ambush you without the use of superhuman abilities.

• 7 dots: x.

• 8 dots: Not even knowing the difference between a "Bear" or "Bull" economy, the global stock market is still your plaything.

• 9 dots: Attempts to deceive you by omission, equivocation, or even the most subtle half-truths are as obvious as the most blatant lies told by a four-year-old.

• 10 dots: x.

Just 2 more feats to come up with, & we'll have passed the midpoint AFA finishing this. ::smile

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Attempting to deceive you by omission, equivocation, or even the most subtle half-truths are as obvious as the most blatant lies told by a four-year-old.

There's something that feels wrong about this sentence. Maybe it should be "half-truth is"?

EDIT: I think it's because we started with a verb "Attempting" and then referenced back to something else.

I think we need to change "Attempting" to "Attempts"

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...and the motion is carried!

Mega-Wits

• 1 dot: Without having to pay attention, walk through a crowd of oncoming pedestrians without ever being jostled or touched.

• 2 dots: Read two (or more) books or viewscreens simultaneously.

• 3 dots: Non-Inspired social Abilities can no longer affect you against your own will.

• 4 dots: Can predict/finish other people's sentences by looking at their faces.

• 5 dots: Retain your composure in the face of a credible, immediate opportunity to acquire your Heart's Desire.

• 6 dots: It is impossible to ambush you without the use of superhuman abilities.

• 7 dots: x.

• 8 dots: Not even knowing the difference between a "Bear" or "Bull" economy, the global stock market is still your plaything.

• 9 dots: Attempts to deceive you by omission, equivocation, or even the most subtle half-truths are as obvious as the most blatant lies told by a four-year-old.

• 10 dots: You effectively have centuries to think about your response to any situation.

All we're lacking is a single Mega-Wits 7 feat to finish off this mini-chart. Any ideas, folks?

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Hmm, so, not simply a reproduction from memory, but basically envisioning the entire creative process that went into creating a work of art, and then following that path step by step, not merely creating a physical replica, but essentially imbuing it with the same artistic spirit that filled the original?

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Create the functional equiv of "Famous Genius X's" life work in "Y days or months".

I'm a little ambivalent about this. I think one of the regulars at the old N!Prime site (now RPG-Post) wrote something about this in the "ExistenZ" series of IC Aberrant fiction/articles. Basically the premise was that Mega-Witty novas with little or no artistic talent could achieve results that were apparently (to Joe Sixpack & Co., at least) equivalent in quality to the works produced by baseline master artists.

That said, I certainly don't have any better ideas at the moment. ::laugh

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Don't see why not, though I think the general direction with nova artwork should be less "baseline masterwork quickly" and more "transcendently beautiful and/or humanly incomprehensible".

I think the latter would require Mega-Wits plus serious levels of artistic skill, but that's just me.

'Your fine art productions have the same 'life-changing' effects upon baselines as would the birth of their children or a severe trauma.' ???....maybe???

I like this. ::sly It needs a little rewriting to tighten it up, but this could really work out well - the efforts of nova artists, writers & performers are supposed to be a big part of the canon setting.

How's about: "Your works of fine art are so excellent that experiencing them qualifies as a 'life-changing event' for your audience."

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Re: The last M-Wits feat-

OK, so if that idea for the M-Wits 7 feat passes muster this particular mini-chart is finished. Which leads us to my next question...

Re: Which one's next?-

The mini-charts for Mega-Appearance (a.k.a. Mega-Attractiveness), Mega-Ugliness & Mega-Manipulation are the only ones left unfinished. (And doesn't that sound weird, when filling out a feat chart is typically more like this: ::brick .)

Which one do you lot want to tackle first? The current mini-charts in question are posted below.

Mega-Appearance

• 1 dot: x.

• 2 dots: x.

• 3 dots: x.

• 4 dots: x.

• 5 dots: x.

• 6 dots: Temporarily soothe baselines suffering from psychotic episodes upon seeing your loveliness.

• 7 dots: x.

• 8 dots: Your amazing looks are so transcendent that even mosquitoes and other insects will avoid biting you and marring your perfection.

• 9 dots: x.

• 10 dots: x.

Mega-Ugliness

• 1 dot: x.

• 2 dots: x.

• 3 dots: x.

• 4 dots: x.

• 5 dots: Cause various kinds of hysteria reactions in typical baselines who view your horrid visage.

• 6 dots: Make baselines involuntarily urinate and/or defecate out of the basic animal fear reaction upon catching sight of you.

• 7 dots: x.

• 8 dots: x.

• 9 dots: x.

• 10 dots: x.

Mega-Manipulation

• 1 dot: Polygraphs show exactly what you want them to show, entirely at your will and independent of your overt answers and their truthfulness.

• 2 dots: x.

• 3 dots: Take a standard baseline who hates you and wants nothing more than to spoil your plans, and get him to yell exasperatedly "Just tell us what you want, we're going to end up doing it anyway!".

• 4 dots: x.

• 5 dots: x.

• 6 dots: x.

• 7 dots: x.

• 8 dots: x.

• 9 dots: x.

• 10 dots: The nova's player may choose at any time to have an unlikely but theoretically possible, event or sequence of events to happen, based on the nova's prior machinations coming to fruition exactly when desired. This costs one point of temporary Willpower and requires a Manipulation roll, with a difficulty based on the unlikelihood of the events.

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Re: Mega-Ugly...

I can see CoC becoming quite applicable when creating this chart, and is probably the easiest of the three to fill out.

-You cause feelings of pity and remorse in others.

-Awareness of your presence in a community causes a public outcry to have you removed.

-Witnessing your visage causes Joe Six-Pack temporary catatonia.

-You make Cthulhu look like Kate Beckinsale by comparison...I know, I know not a good feat, but I couldn't resist.

-You cause permanent psychosis to baselines.

-People will do whatever you request, just to get you to leave.

-Baselines void themselves physically in your presence.

That's a good start anyway...thoughts?

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Re: M-Ugly ideas-

::blink Wow. It'll take me a while to wade through & check all that - thanks! ::laugh

That said, I'm dubious about the "cause insanity" & "cause death" ideas. We've got an enhancement in our Mega-Social ebook that covers the former, while the latter sounds like a theme for a lethal quantum power.

Also, another version of the "Baselines void themselves physically in your presence" idea has already made it into the M-Ugly 6 feat slot.

Re: M-Wits mini-chart, finalized-

I'm declaring this to finally be finished, much thanks for everyone who helped. This one would've really had me stumped if I'd tried to take it on my myself.

Mega-Wits

A quick-thinker has greater control over his own emotions and involuntary reactions - things like shock or surprise either don't exist for him or do not impair him. This also reduces a quick-thinker's chances of being distracted & allows him a clear-minded focus on whatever task at hand.

• 1 dot: Without having to pay attention, walk through a crowd of oncoming pedestrians without ever being jostled or touched.

• 2 dots: Read two (or more) books or viewscreens simultaneously.

• 3 dots: Non-Inspired social Abilities can no longer affect you against your own will.

• 4 dots: Can predict/finish other people's sentences by looking at their faces.

• 5 dots: Retain your composure in the face of a credible, immediate opportunity to acquire your Heart's Desire.

• 6 dots: It is impossible to ambush you without the use of superhuman abilities.

• 7 dots: Your works of fine art are so excellent that experiencing them qualifies as a "life-changing event" for your audience.

• 8 dots: Not even knowing the difference between a "Bear" or "Bull" economy, the global stock market is still your plaything.

• 9 dots: Attempts to deceive you by omission, equivocation, or even the most subtle half-truths are as obvious as the most blatant lies told by a four-year-old.

• 10 dots: You effectively have centuries to think about your response to any situation.

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Re: Mega-Ugly feat ideas-

Here's what I think about the rest of the current batch.

>You cause feelings of pity and remorse in others.

-This assumes that the affected people have some capacity for empathy/sympathy with the Squid. If we use this at all, I'd peg it at M-Ugly 1. Any higher rating would pretty much eliminate this reaction. This also might require Mega-Charisma to work.

>Awareness of your presence in a community causes a public outcry to have you removed.

-*If* this qualifies as a feat, I'd peg it at M-Ugly 2.

>Witnessing your visage causes Joe Six-Pack temporary catatonia.

-I think this may already be covered by the M-Ugly 5 feat: "Cause various kinds of hysteria reactions in typical baselines who view your horrid visage". AFAIK (and I may easily be mistaken) that's similar to being "hag-ridden", which is a kind of hysterical reaction that occurs while sleeping.

>People will do whatever you request, just to get you to leave.

-This could work. I'd peg it at M-Ugly 3 at the minimum.

-You make Cthulhu look like Kate Beckinsale by comparison...I know, I know not a good feat, but I couldn't resist.

That's amusing, esp. since back when the first Development Team was working on Mega-Ugliness for the Mega-Social book, we actually pegged Cthulhu as having Mega-Ugliness 8, & Azathoth as having Mega-Ugliness 10. ::devil

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Sounds about right, aside from Cthulhu not being anywhere near Q8 powerful.

Mega Appearance:

"People will engage in bidding wars into the millions of dollars for a photograph of you."

"Seeing you in person is a life-changing experience."

Mega Manipulation:

"You never lose board games with baseline opponents, even if the rules are newly explained."

"Your reflexive insincerity is so refined that you never actually make a definitive lie."

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Re: M-Ugly feats-

OK, so we've got one more definite feat for M-Ugly 3. That said, "Awareness of your presence in a community causes a public outcry to have you removed" is the only other idea from the new batch so far that seems workable. Pegging it (at M-Ugly 2) isn't the problem - is that idea really plausible as a feat?

Re: M-App ideas-

Both of those sound plausible, shouldn't be any trouble to peg them.

EDIT: Well, I've pegged one of them at least:

• 7 dots: Seeing you in person qualifies as a life-changing experience.

The second (People will engage in bidding wars into the millions of dollars for a photograph of you) has 2 problems. First off, even in RL there's a whole cottage industry devoted to making photoshopped celebrity "photos" - I'd change it to something like "authentic digital images" as photoshopped fakes would abound.

Second, while this is clearly a high-caliber M-App feat (in the 9-10 range), I'm very dubious as to whether it's epic enough for M-App 10. Is pegging it at M-App 9 more plausible, or am I mistaken about this feat being insufficiently epic?

Re: M-Manip ideas-

"You never lose board games with baseline opponents, even if the rules are newly explained."

::confused WTH? AFAIK the only gaming-related Ability is Gambling, which is based on Intelligence.

"Your reflexive insincerity is so refined that you never actually make a definitive lie."

This might work, depending on how a "definitive lie" translates into game mechanics. If it's measured by baseline standards of guile/deception, M-Manip 5 or 6 could be enough to pull this off against non-novas.

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Re: board games, what I'm aiming at is, the technicalities of the rules become basically irrelevant to whether you can win or lose, as compared with your ability to read and bluff the opponent.

Perhaps separate feats, one for when the opponent is in person, and one for when the opponent is remote, and all you have to operate on is the actions on the playing board ( ala two people playing chess over the internet )?

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Re: M-App 9 feat-

Plausible, I suppose. So if nobody objects, what will be going into that feat slot is this:

• 9 dots: People will engage in bidding wars into the billions of dollars for an authentic digital photo of you.

Re: M-Manip & boardgames-

Sorry, I'm even *more* dubious about that idea now. What few of the classic boardgames I know well are ones where bluffing & reading other people are of little or no use at all.

That said, I think that your idea is *very* applicable to card games such as Poker. In that kind of game, the advantages provided by M-Manip are undeniable. All we'd have to do is plausibly peg the resulting feat.

Re: M-Ugly 2 feat idea-

"Awareness of your presence in a community causes a public outcry to have you removed."

With the lack of response as to whether this qualifies as a feat, I'm shelving it from consideration. This idea doesn't read like a feat, it reads like a plot complication.

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