Psionics

Possession of Psychic Powers is not obvious; Psychics look like normal humans.

Each Psychic has a specific tell, which must be taken as a Flaw with each Active Power (including Items). This tell becomes more severe with Powers of greater potence. The Psychic receives Concealed in return for this Flaw.. Psychics are required to purchase Concealed for each Passive Power, since tells do not apply to Passive Powers.

A Psychic who uses an Active Novice Power suffers a minor side effect based on that Psychic's tell. A Psychic who uses an Active Seasoned Power suffers a Novice side effect and a Seasoned side effect. A Psychic who uses an Active Veteran Power suffers a Novice, Seasoned, and Veteran side effect. A Psychic who uses an Active Harbinger Power suffers a Novice, Seasoned, Veteran, and Harbinger side effect.

It's acceptable for a Novice Tell to be something that could be mistaken for a mundane event, though this doesn't have to be the case. A Seasoned Tell should be more alarming and more difficult to mistake for mundane. A Veteran Tell should be obviously supernatural, and a Harbinger Tell should be frightening.

Examples of tells include apparent epileptic seizures (when using Novice Power, you drool and your eyes roll back); bleeding (Novice Power: bleed from nose; Seasoned Power: bleed from eyes, ears, and nose; Veteran Power: bleed from all orifices; Harbinger Power: blood oozes out of your pores, causing you to be completely covered in blood which continuously flows from your body); glowing like a lightbulb ((Novice Tell: your eyes glow; Seasoned Tell: your head glows; Veteran Tell: your entire body glows; Harbinger Tell: you shine brightly, attracting attention from a considerable distance); a black void covering your body (Novice: your eyes are pits of darkness; Seasoned: your face is a black void; Veteran: your entire body looks like a hole in space; Harbinger: tendrils of darkness reach out from the void); your hair blowing back as if in a wind when no wind is present; your hair standing up as if electrified.

Psychics are encouraged to come up with original tells. Your tell should be appropriate to your character.

A tell is in effect for the entire duration of the Power.

You can choose to treat an Active Power as if it were a higher Tier for purposes of the tell. You receive 1 Gift Point for each increase in Tier. A Novice Power treated as Seasoned for purposes of the tell provides 1 Gift Point; a Novice Power treated as Veteran provides 2 points; a Novice Power treated as Harbinger provides 3 points; a Seasoned Power treated as Veteran provides 1 point; a Seasoned Power treated as Harbinger provides 2 points; and a Veteran Power treated as Harbinger provides 1 point.

A Psychic may spend 1 Gift Point to reduce the tell on one Power by one Tier. For example, a Seasoned Power would be treated as a Novice Power for purposes of the tell. Sufficient expenditure of points can completely eliminate the tell for that Power. Completely eliminating the tell on one Power would cost 1 Gift Point for a Novice Power, 2 points for a Seasoned Power, 3 points for a Veteran Power, or 4 points for a Harbinger Power.

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