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Aberrant RPG - Animal Mastery - Micro-Life


John Galt

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Hello all, wanted to pick your brains. Looking at getting Animal Mastery with the micro-life extra. Something tells me this has potential, but not being a big brain in biology, not real sure how to use it. Maybe manipulating the natural bacteria in the body? How would this translate to game mechanics, work like a Poison or stun? Just though I'd see what people thought. Thanks.

John G.

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yeah its very vague in the player's handbook

"Micro-life (character can exercise mastery over microscopic life forms down to the level of viruses)"

mastery? so control, but what would you do if you had control over microscopic life?

If you had two extras, both plants and micro-life, maybe you could make the bacteria in stomachs grow...to disturbing effects : )

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After looking everything up and re-reading it...

Originally Posted By: John Galt
mastery? so control, but what would you do if you had control over microscopic life?
Mastery in this case refers to "Animal Mastery" and not the elemental type much less the extra.

Further, to a large degree basic Animal Mastery doesn't actually give you "control". You can make suggestions and neutral animals will be inclined to follow them, but they don't actually have to. With plants you have animation, but they can't uproot and follow you around. So basically you're limited to what's there.

Originally Posted By: John Galt
Maybe manipulating the natural bacteria in the body?
You could do this for sure... but... you're going to be limited to what's there. Poison the power would allow you to create ebola and the like, this power would only let you do that if someone already had it.

So it sounds (at least to me) like it's going to be a poison with limited effects, unless they already have something in which case you'll be able to add to it (see Increase/Decrease).

On the other hand...

1) The range is insane.

2) You'll be able to communicate, which implies identification.

3) You can probably ask diseases to stop being so nasty.

Just off hand this would work really well with "Poison". Give someone a rare disease that doesn't do anything, then within a 2km radius you can send out a call asking where it is.

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What about cellular life? Couldn't you, in theory, create cancer by encouraging malignant cells to flourish...or an AIDS type phenomenon by encouraging all cells to seek and destroy the CD4 T cells...or take a person who has a case of influenza, and make him a super-flu carrier by teaching the flu to change and adapt to all attacks against it?

Alternately, you could be a tremendous healer by doing the opposite of those things. Basically any health benefit or hazard that has been postulated by medical nanites could be realized with this power.

Similarly, environmental, or 'earth' health could be affected by a sustained effort by a Nova with this ability...this is most likely part of how Utopia was able to clean the oceans an atmosphere.

Granted, this is not a flashy power, or one with any sort of instant gratification...but I think it could be interesting to see what a clever player or ST could make of it..

My $.02

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IMHO All of these things are certainly in theme...

But some of them would require the actual poison power and others would require Healing or even Biomanipulation or Disease Authority.

The ability to communicate with microscopic life forms does imply you can do these things (although the counter argument is that the ability to speak French doesn't give you the ability to lead all Frenchmen), but there's no such thing as a free lunch.

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John, the power and the extra are pretty simple. Micro-Life allows you to have the game effects of Animal/Plant Mastery over micro-organisms ... nothing else. You can telepathically talk to the organisms and get them to move to a part of the body (summons). They will treat you in a friendly (genetically similar, I assume) manner, but asking them to kill their host/act out of the ordinary is a tough call.

In my opinion, if you want to poison someone, buy Poison. A mass acceleration of a bacterial/viral infection would be Disintergrate (not to hit roll - go straight to normally unsoakable damage).

Aberrant does not do well with 'stunting' powers in a theme. You have to buy most powers seperately.

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