Aberrant 2.0 Character Generation

Note that power costs in NP have been decreased and Attribute/Ability purchasing with NP is rendered much less efficient to encourage less people with 5s in every attribute at chargen. It does make characters more powerful but I don't think that's an inherent issue. Means more playing the character you want versus playing half of the character you want.

Altered Costs

Human (Phase 1)

Abilities: 30 ability dots + 3 free specialties

Quantum: Humans have a base Quantum of 0.

Otherwise all costs and points are equal to the ones in the core rulebook.

Nova (45 NP base)

Quantum: +1 Quantum for free, costs 5NP for every additional Quantum point (max starting Quantum is 5)

Quantum Pool: 1 NP buys +4 to Quantum pool.

Attributes/Abilities: 1 NP: 2 Attribute/6 Ability dots, one Ability dot can be traded for 3 specialty Dots

Body Modification: 1 NP: 8 XP of Body Modifications

Mega-Attribute: 2 NP: 1 dot of a Mega-Attribute

Enhancement: 1 NP: 1 Enhancement

Strength: 1 NP: 2 levels of strength for a power

Extra: 2 NP: 1 Extra for a power

Level 1 Power: 1 NP: 1 dot of a L1 power

Level 2 Power: 2 NP: 1 dot of a L2 power

Level 3 Power: 3 NP: 1 dot of a L3 power

Bonus Point Costs

Attribute: 4

Initiative: N/A (can no longer be bought)

Experience Costs

TRAIT INCREASE		XP cost
Attribute		Current x 4
Ability		Current x 2
Background		Current x 2
M-Attribute		Current x 5
Q-Power (L1)		Current x 2
Q-Power (L2)		Current x 5
Q-Power (L3)		Current x 7
Q-Power (L4)		Current x 9
Q-Power (L5)		Current x 11
Q-Power (L6)		Current x 13
Willpower		Current x 1
Quantum		Current x 8
Initiative		N/A (can no longer be bought)
Merit		Rating x 2 XP
Buying off Flaw		Rating x 3 XP
Quantum Pool		2 XP / point

NEW TRAIT			XP cost
Ability		3
Attribute		6
Specialty		1 (3 max / ability)
Background		2
Enhancement		5
M-Attribute		6
Q-Power (L1)		3
Q-Power (L2)		6
Q-Power (L3)		9
Q-Power (L6)		12
Q-Power (L5)		15
Q-Power (L6)		18
Extra		10
Strength		4

Chargen Variants

Taint Mutants

Taint Mutants are technically not Novas, as they do not possess the M-R node. Their ability to channel Quantum is much more haphazard and limited by their initial mutation. Rather than possessing a M-R node, they possess the cells scattered in metastasizing cancerous nodules all over their body, alien biology which will eventually consume them from the inside out with power they were not designed or intended to channel. On the flipside, anyone can be induced into becoming a Taint Mutant.

These mutants are built as humans the same way as a normal Nova, but have significant restrictions on their power. When designing them post "Eruption", Taint Mutants have 10 NP (versus a full-fledged 1st Gen Nova's 45), and they start with Permanent Taint 6. Taint Mutants gain the free point of Quantum and the free points in Endurance and Resistance that all Novas gain, but may not raise their Quantum under any circumstances. In addition to their increased starting Taint, Taint mutants cannot buy powers "Tainted" for reduced cost-every power or Mega-Attribute they purchase is already Tainted. These mutants also may not buy Node or Dormancy-they have a Quantum pool of 10 which they may not expand, and may only spend up to 4 Quantum/turn.

Obviously, because of their Quantum restriction, Taint Mutants may not possess any quantum powers with a quantum minimum higher than 1. Many Taint mutants also have their physical and mental attributes greatly rearranged as their reshaping is consciously done by a Nova. Most notably, most Taint mutants have an appearance score of 0, transferring all dots of appearance into dots of additional physical attributes, and mega-intellects are exceptionally rare among Taint mutants, as the Aberrants want expendable shock troopers, rather than thinkers and planners. Taint Mutants are at the mercy of the Aberrant who created them in terms of power set-after their mutation, a sub-Aberrant may never gain new powers, even if he does improve in already-granted ones.

In theory, it would be possible to create artificially-induced "pseudo-Novas" such as this in a significantly less horrific manner as a route to transforming humanity into a posthuman existence. However, an understanding of the theory behind creating pseudo-Novas (as opposed to Taint Mutants) would require one to piece together fragments of information left behind by the defunct United States of America, the EU, Project Triton, the Teragen, and the current Aberrants.

Taint Mutants are not rendered unplayable at Taint 10+, rather their mutations become ever more obvious and they become ever more unstable. Taint Mutants with Taint above 10 are doomed to a (relatively) fast and miserable death, and are often expended on suicidal attacks against human holdings. These mutants must make a reflexive (Stamina + Resistance) roll every month, the difficulty being (Permanent Taint - 8). Failure on this roll adds +1 to permanent Taint, and botching this roll causes the mutant to die in a horrific and agonizing fashion. Liquefaction is not the worst possible outcome here.

Trinity-era Aberrants

High-Taint Eximorphs are the majority of recent (2080+) eruptions rather than the low-taint ones. With both higher Taint and lower power, these Aberrants are still more than a match for the average Psion. Trinity-era Aberrants are built on 25 NP, but gain 1 point of permanent Taint for every power or Mega-Attribute they possess (no matter the dot rating, M-Str 5 gives 1 point of Taint, just like M-Str 1), and 1 additional point of permanent Taint per point of Quantum they possess.

These Aberrants never erupt without aberrations and start with 3 permanent Taint (including the 1 point from their automatic level of Quantum). These Aberrants are technically not limited in development, but may not start with a Quantum higher than 3 or any power rating higher than 3. They are also not rendered unplayable at Taint 10+, but simply gain more and more mutations.