Peeper -- Psychic Powers in the 'Verse: A Fan Supplement for the Serenity Role-Playing Game

Home > Peeper

Trait (Asset): Peeper, Trained (Major)

You have ESP, Second Sight, Danger Sense -- call it whatever you want. The point bein', you know things, knowin' that don't come easy to other folk. This is the Asset most commonly associated with psychics, and in fact there are far more people with some potential here than anyone suspects. Learnin' to use it is a lot rarer. The following specialties are as common as anything is to psions:

Seein': (Clairvoyance): You can 'scry,' or see, things that are far away. Seein' someplace close that you know like the back of your hand is Easy; the farther away it is, and the less you know it, the harder it gets. Add one level to the difficulty for knowin' the place or thing okay, another for bein' just passin' familiar with it, and a third if ya only seen pictures or got an idea that 'it's over there somewhere.' Also add one level to the difficulty if it's more than a city or a few acres away, one more for beyond the horizon, and yet another for a different world entirely.
Hearin': (Clairaudience): You hear things. For most folks, that ain't good, but you hear things someone's actually sayin' somewhere. Difficulty is as for Seein'.
Receiver: (Aura Reading): When other psions do their thing, it leaves a kind of memory, sort of like when fancy Core types do things in the Cortex. You can't stop the signal, and psions know better than most that everything goes somewhere. The more powerful the psychic, the easier it is to Receive what they're doin' or done before.
Tinglin': (Danger Sense): You got a good sense for trouble before it comes knockin', which is a good way to keep from gettin' dead. Most psions get a tingle at the base of the neck, hence the name. Difficulty is inverse to the danger; if someone's about to steal your friend's toy dinosaur, that's Ridiculous, whereas if the nasty man in the cunning hat is about to draw on you, picking that up is Easy. (Note: This is the trained version of Nose For Trouble. You can't just spend a Plot Point to negate surprise anymore, but unless you botch, you can easily avoid the Grim Reaper's scythe when it's comin' from behind.)
Knowin': (Intuition): Tinglin' warns you about a bad future; Knowin' tells you what is or what's been. Roll to get an answer to a yes or no question about present or past context. The first question is at least Average difficulty, with the difficulty going up by two levels for each further question (Formidable, Incredible, etc). If you botch, the GM can decide to tell you the truth or lie like an Alliance politician! (Note: This is the trained version of Trustworthy Gut. You can't just spend Plot Points to know things.)
Flashes: (Precognition): The future ain't exactly an open book to you, but sometimes you get insight into the future. You can't learn this specialty unless you already have Tinglin', and it can't go any higher than Tinglin'. The GM can give you hints with this at any time (a good excuse for Traumatic Flashes with bennies), but to get a glimpse of the future, make a check with at least Formidable difficulty. The greater the success, the clearer the picture -- and you can change what you see. In fact, some smart folks say that just by lookin' at the future, you change it. So don't count on what you see too much, especially since botching can give you some gorram crazy visions, which are true just often enough to scarify any sane person.
Dowsing: (Psychometry): You can get an idea of the past from a place or object, or find an object (not folk, at least not directly) by followin' its psychic trail, if you've got at least some familiarity with the object. Dowsing will lead you to water or your lucky gun, but if you want to track down Vera, you'd best have held it yourself (or a gorram good picture of it) at least once. Knowin' is a prerequisite (see Flashes). The difficulty of Dowsing depends entirely on how important the mystery is to the GM, makin' this a fickle specialty, though finding what you need to survive (safe eatin' and drinkin') should never be tougher than Hard, and usually easier. Of course, it could be a long way off...
Wanderin': (Astral Projection): If you've got Seein', Hearin' and Receiver, you can learn Wanderin', which basically means you can leave your own body. Sorta. Wanderin' takes you into a weird half-world of silver glass, where ideas are solid and oddly beautiful but the 'real' world is dim and misty-like. There ain't no magic ropes tyin' you to your body, and it won't kill ya unless you don't eat, but fightin' here can still Stun you. Wanderin' can take you anywhere real fast, but unless you got other trainin' in psion Assets all you can do is watch. Oh, and beat on other wanderers. (Awareness = Agility, Willpower = Strength & Vitality; you can 'make' things with an Intelligence + Wanderin' check based on how complicated what you want is.)
Block: (Psychic Ward): Keep Peepers out. Roll Willpower + Block to oppose attempts to Peep on you (or block Astral attacks), or take a Complex Action to create a semi-permanent block on an area (add 2 to all difficulties to Peep on the area for each Difficulty Threshold reached; one roll can be made for each ten minutes spent). The block lasts until torn down by Wanderers or other psychic attacks (see the Reader specialty Burn).

Home - Peeper - Reader - Healer - Mover - Jumper