Aberrant RPG - Mega-Mental & Mega-Social Feats

[Psilord]

I do think "without them realizing they did so" seems a bit much since they're probably actively telling you this.

I would disagree on that; I have seen exmples in my own life of people getting another person

to reveal the information wanted without the subject realizing what he was giving up. The trick

is to get it in small amounts over the course of a conversation, often the person doesn't put

together the puzzle pieces he is revealing. The person seeking the information, however, is

actively keeping track of those little bits, slowly drawing out the information he was after.

True, the smarter or more conversationally adept the subject is the harder it is to pull this off,

but in the case of mega-manip novas that should pose little problem unless dealing with another

mega-mental. Who better for surreptitious steering of a conversation than a grifter?

[Sprocket]

Re: What we haven't done AFA M-Manip Abilities-

I'll repost the mini-chart for easy reference.

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

• 5 dots: x.

• 6 dots: Your reflexive insincerity is so refined that you never actually make a definitive lie.

• 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.

Going by the feats, the only Manip Ability I see having been used is Subterfuge. We've got nada for Interrogation, Diplomacy, Seduction or Streetwise.

"You can get ordinary baselines to reveal whatever information you like, without them realizing they did so."

Sounds like a feat using a very subtle form of Interrogation.

[Forge]

-Your barter skills are such that you can secure anything within 24 hours whether or not you are familiar with the area. [streetwise]

-Given 5 minutes to speak to the proper people, you can diffuse any disagreement, up to and including threats of all-out war. [diplomacy]

-Such is your silver tongue, you can convince a nun to give up her womanly wiles. [seduction, but needs work.]

-Within an hour you can strip all useful information from a hardened Directive agent. [interrogation]

*In horrible Mike Myers as Linda Richman voice and waving hand at the proverbial audience*

"Talk amongst yourselves."

[Alex Green]

OK, I've changed my mind about that interrogation thing, you're right. But mechanically... how would we represent this? I suspect you'd be beating someone's awareness rating as well as their willpower.

But looking over the list, #4, that card thing, as counter intuitive as it is, playing cards is either Int or Wits. Even the enhancements are mostly for that. Lie Detector for example. In games where you can bluff "Trickster" might come into play but that would be "per hand" while Lie Detector and Mega-Int would work for the entire scene.

On a side note while I don't object to it I'm hoping we can get a better #3.

Your barter skills are such that you can secure anything within 24 hours whether or not you are familiar with the area. [streetwise]

You can find and barter for anything the street has to offer. Mega-2 ?

Given 5 minutes to speak to the proper people, you can diffuse any disagreement, up to and including threats of all-out war. [diplomacy]

If you can speak to the proper people, you can diffuse any disagreement, up to and including wars. Mega-4 ?

(No math here, I'm going with 'feel' on it).

-Such is your silver tongue, you can convince a nun to give up her womanly wiles. [seduction, but needs work.]

Sounds like you need to overcome "True" for +2 diff and also willpower. That's remarkably hard as a feat since I think we have to assume a Seduction of zero. The following would be matched against willpower.

Mega-3 succ: 2.1 (doesn't work as a feat even against Will 3)

Mega-4 succ: 3.3

Mega-5 succ: 4.7 (Fails some of the time against Willpower 10)

Basically we're talking 6, maybe 7 (if we assume willpower is spent).

Correction: At 6+ you have an auto-succ, so it's 6.

-Within an hour you can strip all useful information from a hardened Directive agent. [interrogation]

Ironically this is easier... although I'm not sure I'd put "hour" in there.

Assume a willpower of 10 and it's being spent, so we need to look at beating 5 succ.

Mega-5 is 6.5 succ. So...

In a brief amount of time you can strip all useful information from a hardened Directive agent. Mega-5 ?

[metaphysician]

Times like this when I wish Aberrant used the Exalted 2e social combat rules. It'd make designing feats a lot easier.

Hmm, how about "with a few hours talking, you can temporarily change someone's Nature"?

[Alex Green]

I like it... but my gut says it's 6+

[Sprocket]

But looking over the list, #4, that card thing, as counter intuitive as it is, playing cards is either Int or Wits. Even the enhancements are mostly for that. Lie Detector for example. In games where you can bluff "Trickster" might come into play but that would be "per hand" while Lie Detector and Mega-Int would work for the entire scene.

That feat is "filler material", easily replaced if/when a better idea for a M-Manip 4 feat makes the cut. If you've got a good replacement for it, consider it toast. Speaking of which...

Your barter skills are such that you can secure anything within 24 hours whether or not you are familiar with the area. [streetwise]

You can find and barter for anything the street has to offer. Mega-2 ?

Given 5 minutes to speak to the proper people, you can diffuse any disagreement, up to and including threats of all-out war. [diplomacy]

If you can speak to the proper people, you can diffuse any disagreement, up to and including wars. Mega-4? (No math here, I'm going with 'feel' on it).

::thumbup1 I like both of those quite a bit. If no one minds, I'll just plug both of of the feats that Alex reworded into the M-Manip mini-chart.

Hmm, how about "with a few hours talking, you can temporarily change someone's Nature"?

Hate to be a buzzkill, but this has already been used as a delightfully insidious M-Manip enhancement ("Bad Influence") in Aberrant: Forceful Personalities. Reignhhell wrote it, BTW.

"You can convince two people actively fighting to stop fighting, for as long as you continue to converse with them."

"You can trigger a rise or fall in the stock market, via a single email sent a week beforehand."

Are these still under consideration, and if so, for what dot ratings?

"You can get ordinary baselines to reveal whatever information you like, without them realizing they did so."

Since this is Interrogation with the baseline subject realizing neither that he's revealing important information nor that he's even being interrogated in the first place, I suspect it'd have to be a M-Manip 6+ feat, esp. if it's being pitted against the subject's Awareness.

Such is your silver tongue, you can convince a nun to give up her womanly wiles. [seduction, but needs work.]

Looks like rewording is required. How's about "Such is your silver tongue that you can convince priests and nuns to give up their vows of celibacy"?

Also, I agree with Alex that seducing someone who's taken a vow of celibacy would be a M-Manip 6+ feat. If the current M-Manip 6 feat is also going to be considered "filler material", both this and the preceding feat in this post could fit into the M-Manip 6 or 7 slots easily.

[metaphysician]

Maybe a separate, lower level feat, for the subject knowing they are being interrogated, but *not* realizing they are actually revealing desired information?

[Sprocket]

Maybe a separate, lower level feat, for the subject knowing they are being interrogated, but *not* realizing they are actually revealing desired information?

That could work, except for the fact that the slots for M-Manip 1-5 all appear to be taken. (I'm not using my regular computer at the moment, so I can't access the document right now. I'll be posting the latest revision of the mini-chart ASAP.) Ramping that idea up to the caliber of M-Manip 7, 8 or 9 seems viable, provided that we can keep it plausible.

[Sprocket]

Re: The current M-Manip feats mini-chart-

Here it is. I've gone ahead & axed the previous M-Manip 6 feat. None of these are graven in stone, provided that you can convince me and/or Alex that changes are necessary. OTOH, we're just 2 feats away from finishing off this mini-chart. ::happy

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: You can find and barter for anything the street has to offer.

• 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: If you can speak to the proper people, you can diffuse any disagreement, up to and including war.

• 5 dots: In a brief amount of time you can strip all useful information from a hardened Directive agent.

• 6 dots: Such is your silver tongue that you can convince priests and nuns to give up their vows of celibacy.

• 7 dots: You can get ordinary baselines to reveal whatever information you like, without them realizing they did so.

• 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.

Re: "Basic capability" blurbs-

As you folks have noticed, the mini-charts for M-Int & M-Wits both have blurbs detailing the basic capabilities of what even just one dot of those Mega-Attributes provide that were not explicitly mentioned in the core book listings. My question is this: Do we need to establish similar blurbs for M-Perception & the Mega-Socials, or are they already covered well enough with just what's in the core book?

[Alex Green]

Re: "Basic capability" blurbs-

As you folks have noticed, the mini-charts for M-Int & M-Wits both have blurbs detailing the basic capabilities of what even just one dot of those Mega-Attributes provide that were not explicitly mentioned in the core book listings. My question is this: Do we need to establish similar blurbs for M-Perception & the Mega-Socials, or are they already covered well enough with just what's in the core book?

My mind is feeling slow right now... but you lost me. What did we do that's different for those?

[Sprocket]

Re: "Basic capability" blurbs-

My mind is feeling slow right now... but you lost me. What did we do that's different for those?

We went & collected all those scattered "tidbits" from the canon books about certain otherwise-unmentioned minor things that Mega-Intelligent and/or Mega-Witty novas are capable of. Here, I'll repost them.

Mega-Intelligence

Brainiacs can understand and influence complex systems (like organizations, nations & cultures), in ways that baselines barely understand. They can use this influence and control their surroundings, manipulating people and events with superhuman capability. They have reduced or totally waived training time for learning new Abilities. Brainiacs can roll Intelligence or a relevant Ability to recall some useful piece of data they have seen or heard. They can also place a hidden message within a message/document that only novas with Mega-Intelligence of their own dot rating or higher can decipher.

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.

If we need to undertake a similar "scavenger hunt" for Mega-Perception and the Mega-Socials, this would be the time & place to do it. OTOH, if it's decided that we don't need them, I'm fine with that too. ::cool

[Alex Green]

Hmm... I like them.

[Sprocket]

::laugh I figured that was a given, since they were written up & approved way back when we were hammering out the M-Int & M-Wits mini-charts.

That said, I'm willing to go through the canon books & see *if* there are any such tidbits to be had for Mega-Perception & the Mega-Socials - I might find little or nothing. I'll do the scavenging tonight, & repost anything I can dig up.

Re: Current M-Manip feat mini-chart-

Objections, anyone? Or suggestions to fill the M-Manip 8 and/or 9 feat slots with?

[Alex Green]

Darn it, I still think we should be able to do something with those butterflies. How about...

Like butterflies can eventually create hurricanes, you can (ST willing) influence events with the most trivial and unlikely of actions (ST's choice on how long this takes).

I.e. Mega-10 lets you retroactively do it. Mega-9 should be able to let you do it just without the retroactive part.

[Sprocket]

Well, since the M-Manip 10 slot has been taken, your idea would fit nicely into the M-Manip 9 slot. I'll hammer that idea out into a printworthy feat & repost it here soon.

Also, the current M-Manip 10 feat can easily act as a retroactive version of your idea if I'm not mistaken.

EDIT: Finished the feat editing sooner than expected. ::smile

Mega-Manipulation

• 9 dots: Like the wingbeats of butterflies can eventually create hurricanes, you can (Storyteller willing) influence events with the most trivial and unlikely of actions. (Storyteller's discretion as to how long this takes.)

[Alex Green]

::cool

[Sprocket]

Re: "Basic capability" blurbs, first drafts-

Hammering these out took a little longer than expected (Mega-Perception & the Mega-Socials have been a bit shortchanged in the canon books), but here's what I've got for them. I've done my best to make these as plausible as possible, since these are supposed to be "freebies" that come with even taking just one dot of the relevant Mega-Attribute. If they pass muster, they'll be inserted at the beginnings of their respective feat mini-charts. Read & review, please.

Mega-Perception

The superhuman awareness of a watcher isn't limited to the details of her physical surroundings. The involuntary physical responses (muscular/nervous tics, changes in respiration and/or body temperature, pheromone releases etc.) of other lifeforms can supply her with a wealth of information.

Mega-Appearance

Unlike attractive baselines, idols retain their superhuman beauty in everyday circumstances where the benefits of airbrushing, makeup and controlled lighting are unavailable. They also have the option of using their hyper-attractiveness to influence the behavior of anyone who might be attracted to them, the results of which can range from having a judge in court rule in your favor to getting a one-night stand. This also lets idols ensure that other people's attention is drawn to themselves when desired, although it can backfire spectacularly.

Mega-Ugliness

A squid's surreal repulsiveness grants him a shock value that is outside the context of the typical baseline's experience. Faced with a horror of which cinematic movie monsters are but pathetic imitations most people can and do lose their self-control, which allows the squid to terrorize and/or dominate them as he pleases. Like an idol, a squid also retains his hideousness in everyday circumstances and can draw attention to himself with relative ease.

Mega-Manipulation

A grifter's inherent awareness of others' attempts at manipulation and/or deception isn't limited to those focusing on herself alone. Provided that she has a working knowledge of the target's general viewpoint (whether it be only a single person or a group), the grifter can detect such attempts directed at them and counter them if she's able.

Mega-Charisma

Charmers have a greater ability for masking their own emotions and involuntary reactions from being noticed by other people, which allows them to deal with people whom they find personally distasteful with relative ease. It also is of immense help when performing a role that requires faking friendly and positive interactions with such people.

Re: M-Manip 8 feat ideas-

I'll review the previous M-Manip feat ideas to see if any of them are appropriate (or can be made so) for this dot rating, but don't hesitate to suggest any new ideas to fill this last empty slot in the mini-chart.

Re: The M-Ugly feat mini-chart...-

...is currently as follows. Now that we're almost done with M-Manip, we can hopefully fill this one up quickly.

Mega-Ugliness

• 1 dot: x.

• 2 dots: x.

• 3 dots: People will do whatever you request, just to get you to leave.

• 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: Predatory and parasitic animals would rather starve to death than touch you.

• 9 dots: x.

• 10 dots: x.

[Alex Green]

M-Manip

The Directive had to deal with that "Newsman" character in Germany who put stuff in print.

Similarly, that guy in WWII (Corb? Who was his own faction in the election did the same thing).

M-App

Was the Judge influenced by M-App or was it M-Chr? M-Chr is your force of personality (far as I can tell). Not only does it make people like you, but it also lets you give orders and the like (Command).

[metaphysician]

I got the impression the judge was influenced by Mega Charisma. The Newsman didn't benefit until he actually talked, after all.

[Alex Green]

The Newsman didn't benefit until he actually talked...

I thought most of his power over the country was via his news articles?

[metaphysician]

I meant at his trial, specifically.

The news articles and such, that I think was mega manipulation.

[Sprocket]

Re: M-Manip blurb-

The Directive had to deal with that "Newsman" character in Germany who put stuff in print.

Similarly, that guy in WWII (Corb? Who was his own faction in the election did the same thing).

::confused Pardon me for being slow today, but how do either of those examples relate to the M-Manip blurb? The blurb states that a grifter can detect (& counter, if possible) attempts by others to manipulate a targeted third party.

What you're talking about is grifters manipulating people via their printed works - basically a variant of "Compelling" from the Aberrant Compendium.

Re: M-App blurb-

Was the Judge influenced by M-App or was it M-Chr? M-Chr is your force of personality (far as I can tell). Not only does it make people like you, but it also lets you give orders and the like (Command).

The inspiration was from the movie Erin Brockovich, where the titular heroine (played by Julia Roberts) won over the judge through the discreet use of her cleavage.

[Sprocket]

Re: The Newsman-

Just dug out my copy of the Directive sourcebook & checked the material. Apologies for not catching on earlier, RL's been a little hectic lately. Anyhow, here's the revised basic capability blurb for M-Manip.

Mega-Manipulation

A grifter's inherent awareness of others' attempts at manipulation and/or deception isn't limited to those focusing on herself alone. Provided that she has a working knowledge of the target's general viewpoint (whether it be only a single person or a group), the grifter can detect such attempts directed at them and counter them if she's able. A grifter is also capable of influencing other people through written and printed media, as demonstrated by Heinrich "The Newsman" Keld and Corby Carter.

Re: M-Manip 8 feat idea-

Things have been pretty slow on this thread of late, so I thought that I'd go ahead & take a stab at finishing off the next-to-last feat mini-chart. I think this feat is suitably epic, but YMMV.

M-Manip 8: You can destroy political careers and/or the popular support for an organization with only a single report to the media, provided that you have suitably damning evidence to back up your claims.

[Forge]

Re: M-Manip 8 feat idea-

Things have been pretty slow on this thread of late, so I thought that I'd go ahead & take a stab at finishing off the next-to-last feat mini-chart. I think this feat is suitably epic, but YMMV.

M-Manip 8: You can destroy political careers and/or the popular support for an organization with only a single report to the media, provided that you have suitably damning evidence to back up your claims.

I don't think it requires M-Manip 8 to destroy careers or an organization with one report, look what the National Enquirer did to John Edwards or take a trip in the 'Way-Back Machine' to the E. coli breakout at Jack In The Box. Any baseline can do it with the suitably damning evidence. ::devil Now...that doesn't mean that the idea is not a good feat for M-Manip 8, I just think at Mega Manipulation 8 the wording would be;

-You can destroy high-exposure careers and/or support for an organization with only a single report to the media, without the suitably damning evidence to back up your claims. ::innocent

[Sprocket]

I don't think it requires M-Manip 8 to destroy careers or an organization with one report, look what the National Enquirer did to John Edwards or take a trip in the 'Way-Back Machine' to the E. coli breakout at Jack In The Box. Any baseline can do it with the suitably damning evidence. ::devil Now...that doesn't mean that the idea is not a good feat for M-Manip 8, I just think at Mega Manipulation 8 the wording would be;

-You can destroy high-exposure careers and/or support for an organization with only a single report to the media, without the suitably damning evidence to back up your claims. ::innocent

Considering that it's M-Manip 8 we're talking about, that does sound plausible if the target population is either entirely or mostly comprised of baselines. OTOH, I'd think that at least a grain of truth may be necessary for this "epic expose/smear job" to work on anything more than a temporary basis.

[Alex Green]

RE: Blurb

That looks good.

RE: M-8 and Evidence

Some things need more than a single report... but in theory you should be able to do whatever you need. For example that Cardy Spy on DS9 threw the Roms into the War with the Founders by a few murders and a faked "internal" report.

In theory you could use this to blow apart PU, even if Project Pro didn't exist. The issue isn't whether or not you could do it, the issue is how much effort would it take?

For example assume Sophia has Mega-Manip 8 and that the entire "Slider" thing was her idea from start to finish. I.e. she was Slider and she killed "herself".

You can destroy high-exposure careers and/or support for an organization basically at will, ST's choice on how much time, effort or evidence you need. Often a single media report will serve.

[Forge]

RE: M-8 and Evidence

Some things need more than a single report... but in theory you should be able to do whatever you need. For example that Cardy Spy on DS9 threw the Roms into the War with the Founders by a few murders and a faked "internal" report.

In theory you could use this to blow apart PU, even if Project Pro didn't exist. The issue isn't whether or not you could do it, the issue is how much effort would it take?

For example assume Sophia has Mega-Manip 8 and that the entire "Slider" thing was her idea from start to finish. I.e. she was Slider and she killed "herself".

You can destroy high-exposure careers and/or support for an organization basically at will, ST's choice on how much time, effort or evidence you need. Often a single media report will serve.

That does sound better, though I would change, "ST's choice on how much..." to "ST's discretion on how much..." otherwise it implies that only one of the three would be needed. Not that mature gamers such as ourselves would take advantage of splicing somantics for an advantage...::innocent

[Sprocket]

RE: Blurb

That looks good.

Thanks. So, are there any problems with the other blurbs?

RE: M-8 and Evidence

Some things need more than a single report... but in theory you should be able to do whatever you need. For example that Cardy Spy on DS9 threw the Roms into the War with the Founders by a few murders and a faked "internal" report.

In theory you could use this to blow apart PU, even if Project Pro didn't exist. The issue isn't whether or not you could do it, the issue is how much effort would it take?

For example assume Sophia has Mega-Manip 8 and that the entire "Slider" thing was her idea from start to finish. I.e. she was Slider and she killed "herself".

You can destroy high-exposure careers and/or support for an organization basically at will, ST's choice on how much time, effort or evidence you need. Often a single media report will serve.

Although I don't hold with the "Rousseau was Slider" theory, everything else looks to be just right. I think I'll go ahead & plug that (after a little editing, natch) into the mini-chart below.

Re: Finalized M-Manip feats mini-chart-

AFAICT, this mini-chart is finished. The finalized M-Manip feats are as follows:

Mega-Manipulation

<The blurb will go here.>

• 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: You can find and barter for anything the street has to offer.

• 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: If you can speak to the proper people, you can diffuse any disagreement, up to and including war.

• 5 dots: In a brief amount of time you can strip all useful information from a hardened Directive agent.

• 6 dots: Such is your silver tongue that you can convince priests and nuns to give up their vows of celibacy.

• 7 dots: You can get ordinary baselines to reveal whatever information you like, without them realizing they did so.

• 8 dots: You can destroy high-exposure careers and/or support for an organization basically at will, Storyteller's discretion on how much time, effort and/or evidence you need. Often a single media report will serve.

• 9 dots: Like the wingbeats of butterflies can eventually create hurricanes, you can (Storyteller willing) influence events with the most trivial and unlikely of actions. (Storyteller's discretion as to how long this takes.)

• 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.

Re: M-Ugliness feat mini-chart-

Here's what the last unfinished mini-chart looks like at the moment. Ideas to fill it out are welcome.

Mega-Ugliness

<The blurb will go here.>

• 1 dot: x.

• 2 dots: x.

• 3 dots: People will do whatever you request, just to get you to leave.

• 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: Predatory and parasitic animals would rather starve to death than touch you.

• 9 dots: x.

• 10 dots: x.

[Sprocket]

Re: Mega-Appearance & Mega-Ugliness blurbs-

Looking through the Television Tropes & Idioms website, I happened to notice the "Distracted By The Sexy" trope.

Looking it over, I think it makes a strong case that the "distraction factor" of regular Mega-Appearance has not been really been addressed. Likewise, Mega-Ugliness' "shock factor" could likewise distract witnesses from vitally important things in their panic.

Adding a sentence or two to the relevant blurbs will probably be enough to handle this, but is it needed?

[Alex Green]

I think the other blurbs seem a little sparse, especially if we move that thing about the judge from App to Chr. Distracted by the sexy probably merits a sentence.

For that matter, Chr probably needs something like....

"People like you to the point where they find it hard to believe bad things about you. This is useful in courtrooms and in dealing with the media ('America's Sweet Heart')."

Yeah, I know. It needs work.

[metaphysician]

Hmm, I'm blanking for mega ugliness feats. Problem is, a lot of the stuff you could do with mega ugliness, would perhaps be better represented as aberrations ( like "the sense of wrongness about you lingers in places you pass" ).

[Alex Green]

I think in some ways it's the opposite of both Mega-App and Mega-Chr.

"People easily believe ill of you... people easily believe you could hurt them..."

[Sprocket]

I think the other blurbs seem a little sparse, especially if we move that thing about the judge from App to Chr. Distracted by the sexy probably merits a sentence.

Well, the latter won't be happening - in the example from Erin Brockovich, the title character bluntly states that her secret weapon to win over that (heterosexual male) judge is her breasts. I'll see about writing a sentence for both Distracted By The Sexy & its M-Ugly analog.

OTOH, I agree with you on the former - most of them do look pretty sparse, which is one reason I presented them as first drafts.

For that matter, Chr probably needs something like....

"People like you to the point where they find it hard to believe bad things about you. This is useful in courtrooms and in dealing with the media ('America's Sweet Heart')."

Yeah, I know. It needs work.

It wouldn't take much work to make it postworthy, AFAICT. OTOH, this was already mentioned in the Mega-Charisma section of Chapter 4 in Aberrant: Forceful Personalities. Does it really need to be repeated here?

Hmm, I'm blanking for mega ugliness feats. Problem is, a lot of the stuff you could do with mega ugliness, would perhaps be better represented as aberrations ( like "the sense of wrongness about you lingers in places you pass" ).

I think in some ways it's the opposite of both Mega-App and Mega-Chr.

"People easily believe ill of you... people easily believe you could hurt them..."

That certainly sounds like a starting point. Despite his dignified, quite civilized & well-mannered behavior, the Elephant Man always had some people trying to treat him as if he were an animal or monster due to his deformities.

[Sprocket]

Re: Blurb revisions-

Just fixed the blurbs for M-App, M-Ugly & M-Charisma (I figured WTH on that one). Hopefully they don't look sparse now.

Mega-Appearance

Unlike attractive baselines, idols retain their superhuman beauty in everyday circumstances where the benefits of airbrushing, makeup and controlled lighting are unavailable. They have the option of using their hyper-attractiveness to influence the behavior of anyone who might be attracted to them, the results of which can range from having a judge in court rule in your favor to getting a one-night stand. Distracting people of the correct sexual orientation - to the point where said people will drop things, walk into walls and generally lose track of whatever they were doing before the idol showed up - is another favored tactic. Idols can almost always ensure that other people's attention is drawn to themselves when desired, although it can backfire spectacularly.

Mega-Ugliness

A squid's surreal repulsiveness grants him a shock value that is outside the context of the typical baseline's experience. Faced with a horror of which cinematic movie monsters are but pathetic imitations most people can and do lose their self-control, which allows the squid to terrorize and/or dominate them as he pleases. Similar to an idol, the squid can also distract people with his hyper-abhorrent looks, with said people quickly losing track of whatever they were doing in their panic over seeing the squid. Likewise, a squid also retains his hideousness in everyday circumstances and can draw attention to himself with relative ease.

Mega-Charisma

Charmers have a greater ability for masking their own emotions and involuntary reactions from being noticed by other people, which allows them to deal with people whom they find personally distasteful with relative ease. It also is of immense help when performing a role that requires faking friendly and positive interactions with such people. The vast majority of people like charmers to the point where they find it hard (but not impossible) to believe bad things about them. This is useful in police investigations, courtrooms and in dealing with the media.

[Forge]

Edited for grammar a bit...can't help myself...::brick

Mind you it was very late, so its probably far from perfect.

Mega-Appearance

Unlike attractive baselines, Idols retain their superhuman beauty in everyday circumstances where the benefits of airbrushing, makeup and controlled lighting are unavailable. They have the option of using their hyper-attractiveness to influence the behavior of anyone who might be attracted to them, the results of which can range from having a judge rule in your favor, to getting a one-night stand. Distracting people of the correct sexual orientation, (To the point where said people will drop things, walk into walls and generally lose track of whatever they were doing before the idol showed up.) is another favored tactic. Idols can almost always ensure that other people's attention is drawn to themselves when desired, although it can backfire spectacularly.

Mega-Ugliness

A Squid's surreal repulsiveness grants him a shock value that is outside the context of the typical baseline's experience. When faced with a horror of which cinematic movie monsters are but a pathetic imitation, most people can and do lose their self-control, which allows the Squid to terrorize and/or dominate them as he pleases. Similar to an Idol, the Squid can also distract people with his hyper-abhorrent looks, immersed in the panic caused by having seen the Squid, people will quickly lose track of whatever they were doing. Likewise, a Squid also retains his hideousness in everyday circumstances and can draw attention to himself with relative ease.

Mega-Charisma

Charmers have a greater ability for keeping their own emotions and involuntary reactions from being noticed by other people. This allows them to deal with people whom they find personally distasteful with relative ease. These abilities are also of immense help when performing a role that requires faking friendly, positive interactions with such people. The vast majority of people like Charmers to the point where they find it hard (but not impossible) to believe bad things about them. This is useful in police investigations, courtrooms and in dealing with the media.

[Alex Green]

Does it really need to be repeated here?

If we're going to do them all, then yes. Referring to another book would be annoying to the reader.

RE: Blurbs.

I like them all now.

[Sprocket]

Re: Blurbs-

OK, I'm considering them finished.

Re: Editing by Forge-

Thanks, but we've got our editing well in hand. JessiLaurn does one top-flight job rechecking the material we give her for PDF conversion, and that's *after* the rest of us have given it a going-over. This stuff *is* going into the Mega-Physical ebook, so it can't bypass her. ::cool

[Sprocket]

Re: Possibilities for M-Ugly ideas-

Having just found & reread my hardback collection of H.P. Lovecraft's stories, I'll toss out a few of the characters' adverse reactions to seeing Mythos creatures. I'm also excluding ideas which have already been used as enhancements in AB:FP or are best used as power themes (like causing lethal heart attacks). Inflicting mental disorders on baselines has already been covered by the "Mind-Shattering Horror" enhancement, for example.

Also, I'm thinking that the squid might not be able to predetermine the nature of his baseline victims' reaction. People can & do have vastly different reactions to extreme stimuli & are unpredictable to boot.

Feedback (& feats derived from these ideas) would be greatly appreciated.

>Cause baselines to faint for a few minutes.

>Panic baselines into doing appropriately pointless activities (hysterical screaming, attempts to run away, collapse into a sobbing wreck etc.) for a few minutes.

>Cause stress-induced physical effects (from extreme fear) in baselines - hair goes white and/or falls out, premature aging, sensory impairment.

>Induce comatose or catatonic state in baselines for a variable amount of time - anywhere from hours to days, depending on the M-Ugly rating.

>Cause brief physical seizures in baselines lasting a few minutes.

[Alex Green]

I don't have time right now so I'll have to sit down and do math later. But I think there's a lot here.

Idea: Baselines need to make a willpower roll to be in the same room?

Cause baselines to faint for a few minutes.

Strong idea. Presumably as the result of an intimidation roll. Are we talking +5 succ over their willpower? +10?

Induce comatose or catatonic state in baselines for a variable amount of time - anywhere from hours to days, depending on the M-Ugly rating.

Sounds like another +5 succ... which is a good thing, it's pretty easy for succ to add up.

Panic baselines into doing appropriately pointless activities (hysterical screaming, attempts to run away, collapse into a sobbing wreck etc.) for a few minutes.

Probably just tag this as one level less than "faint".

Cause stress-induced physical effects (from extreme fear) in baselines - hair goes white and/or falls out, premature aging, sensory impairment.

One level more or less than coma?

Cause brief physical seizures in baselines lasting a few minutes.

Sounds like the previous.