Aberrant 2.0 Paramorphs

Background

The Hammersmith Incident created three types of Inspired. The first two were the most well known, the Novas and the Psions, both capable of manipulating fundamental universal forces to meet their ends, having influenced the course of human civilization through centuries.

The third type is far rarer, and far more interesting. Their control is over another fundament of the universe, but one more subtle than the Novas or Psions. Their control is over time and probability. This is innate control, not the emulation of time and probability control a Nova gains from brute force via the powers of Entropy Control or Temporal Manipulation. Paramorphs are naturals at using time and probability to their advantage.

They are also Inspired, perhaps the purest Inspired. Every Daredevil holds the ability to become a legendary polymath, no matter their intellect, inclinations, or education. Theories on this abound. Perhaps the Many-Worlds theory is true, and a Daredevil can reach into one of any infinity of parallel universes and find a double of him who happened to have mastered the skill. Perhaps it's an innate part of their probability manipulation. Perhaps it's an entirely unrelated cause, correlation versus causation. Research on paramorphs (versus psychomorphs and eximorphs, or Psions and Aberrants as Aeon typically calls them) is slow-going, and even decades of accumulated research on fully willing subjects has brought little fruit.

Examples

Good examples of Paramorphs and their power aesthetics from other various fictional sources include:

• Homura Akemi, from Madoka Magica
• The Pointman, from FEAR
• Wesley Gibson, from Wanted (the movie, not the comic)
• Captain Price, from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
• Just about any 80s action hero

As you might be able to tell, Paramorph powers are either relatively subtle-on-the-edge-of-believability abilities which allow for improbable feats... or blatant and obvious time manipulation.

Character Creation

Paramorphs are built as normal baseline characters for Step 1 (baseline) character generation. Step 2 (inspiration) is where they get significantly altered. A Paramorph has 30 Transformation Points to work with, and a starting Inspiration of 1. A Paramorph's Inspiration pool is equal to (2 * Inspiration).

Transformation Point Costs

• Inspiration: 1 per 4 transformation points
• Attributes: 2 per 1 transformation point
• Abilities: 6 per 1 transformation point
• Ability Mastery: 1 per 3 transformation points
• Backgrounds: 5 per 1 transformation point
• Merits: 3 BP per 1 transformation point
• Knack: 1 per 2 transformation points

Experience Point Costs

• Knacks: 10 XP per Knack
• Ability Mastery: 12 XP per Mastery
• Inspiration: Current Rating * 6

Unique Abilities

Detection

Paramorphs are nearly impossible to detect. In fact, only a few characters are capable of detecting Paramorphs at all.

Novas

A Nova with Temporal Manipulation or Entropy Control (or similar temporal and probability manipulation powers) may attempt to roll their power's rating as a dice pool at +2 difficulty (+1 difficulty if the Nova has both powers, use the lower of two power ratings in this case) to detect a Paramorph. Success gives a rough idea that one exists and is nearby, but little more than that.

Inspiration

A Paramorph's ability to alter time and probability allows them to do interesting things. They can change the tactical situation, apparently unconsciously, to their own advantage, avoid even the most certain of fates via strings of increasingly-unlikely coincidence, and so on.

Innate Abilities

Inspiration allows any Paramorph to do more than a few things.

• Fortune's Favored: Paramorphs may reroll a number of rolls per scene for free equal to his permanent Inspiration. The second roll, of course, stands.
• Incredible Luck: A Paramorph may spend 1 Inspiration point to reroll any dice which did not come up as successes on one of his rolls, or reroll all successes on an opponent's roll. Obviously successes and failures on these dice both stand. This even applies to Nova Mega-Attributes. Either of these forms of incredible luck may only be used once per roll. However, both can be used simultaneously (for 2 Inspiration points).
• Strength of Will: A Paramorph's ability to succeed and his ability to twist the odds greatly improve the results from expenditure of will. A Paramorph gains double the effect of any willpower points spent.
• Temporal Immunity: Paramorphs are extremely resistant to temporal alterations. They control their own personal timelines, and cannot be erased by time travel shenanigans such as going into the past and killing their mother. Against powers such as Stop Time or Dilate Time, they gain a number of bonus successes equal to their permanent Inspiration.
• Dramatic Editing: Paramorphs can alter probability and create the most unlikely coincidences. Use the Adventure! rules for dramatic editing.

Ability Masteries

Whereas Novas (and to a lesser extent, Psions) accomplish things via inhuman ability, a Paramorph accomplishes tasks via inhuman skill. The delineation between the two is not fully understood, but a Paramorph seems to bias their probability bending into certain lines of thought alongside their natural expertise, rather than along their physical attributes.

A Paramorph with Ability Mastery in an ability is an incredible expert in said ability, beyond normal human capabilities. Having an Ability Mastery adds 1 bonus success to any rolls the Paramorph makes related to the power, and also grants several additional benefits. Ability Mastery of a field skill grants the mastery of all abilities in the field.

• Desperation Maneuver: Once per scene, a Paramorph may pay 1 willpower and 1 Inspiration point to convert all die in a dice pool to successes.

• Superhuman Mastery: The Paramorph may buy the ability up higher than normal, increasing its maximum rating by +2, representing further refinement of the Paramorph's mastery of probability control and time. This normally will increase the maximum rating to 7, but it can go even higher.

• Fast Learner: The Paramorph pays only (Current x 1) cost to raise an ability above 5 if the Paramorph has a relevant ability mastery.

• Botch Protection: Paramorphs may never botch the use of an ability with an Ability Mastery.

Knacks

Paramorphs have more blatant expressions of their mastery of time and chance in the form of Knacks-tricks which border on the superhuman-but almost always can be explained via "luck". Paramorph knacks are never obvious and have very few obvious signs of actual power.

Repurchases: Some Knacks can be repurchased to improve their capability. Repurchase benefits are listed with the system.

Requirements: Most Paramorph knacks have some level of mundane requirement-the Paramorph needs the framework to make their (relatively) more subtle powers work, whereas Novas and Psions can simply throw crackling cosmic power around.

Combat Knacks

Initiative

Lightning Reflexes: A Paramorph with this knack is never caught flat-footed or otherwise surprised. Even though his measured reaction times are still well within (trans)human possibility, they operate continuously on the high end of human reaction speed and never have "slow days". This Knack is repurchaseable.

System: The Paramorph is considered to have rolled '5' on any initiative roll where she rolls below 5. If repurchased, the Paramorph never rolls initiative, instead calculating his initiative as (Dexterity + Wits + 10). The repurchased version refunds all XP from merits which allow rolling multiple die for initiative, such as Combat Veteran.

Requirements: Lightning Reflexes requires the Paramorph to be fast on his feet already. The Paramorph must have a Dexterity + Wits total of 6 for the first purchase, and a total of 8 for the repurchase.

Blindside: A Paramorph with this knack can blindside anyone with lower initiative, catching them absolutely unaware.

System: If the Paramorph attacks an opponent with a lower initiative total, the Paramorph catches the opponent by surprise unless the character succeeds on a (Wits + Awareness) roll with difficulty equal to the Paramorph's permanent Inspiration.

Requirements: A Paramorph with this knack needs to have some idea of how to stab someone in the back, and requires at least Stealth 2.

Move Reading: A Paramorph with this knack is exceptionally good at beating anyone slow (or slow-witted) enough to telegraph their movements.

System: All opponents with lower initiative than the Paramorph are at +1 difficulty to attack the Paramorph. This stacks fully with any other difficulty increases.

Requirements: To read an opponent's moves requires significant combat experience, and therefore the Paramorph needs at least two combat abilities at 3+ (combat abilities are Brawl, Melee, Martial Arts, Firearms, Heavy Weapons, and Gunnery).

Don't Fear The Reaper: A Paramorph with this knack is a glorious typhoon of carnage, barely pausing to mow down foes like chaff. This Knack is repurchaseable-a Paramorph may have up to (Permanent Inspiration) total incidences of this Knack.

System: The Paramorph reduces all multiple action penalties by 2. Every repurchase reduces multiple action penalties by an additional 1.

Requirements: The Paramorph needs to be well-coordinated to use this knack, and requires a minimum Dexterity of 3+ and Wits of 4+.

Defensive

Untouchable: This knack makes the opponent's high-tech weaponry more dangerous to the enemy than the Paramorph. Many of the original Aeon members prefer outdated weaponry specifically to take advantage of this knack, taking on advanced armies with nothing but a .45 caliber revolver and a century-old knife.

System: As long as the Paramorph has notably inferior weapons and equipment to the opposition, all attempts to attack the Paramorph are at (+Inspiration) difficulty and the Paramorph is allowed a reflexive dodge at full pool against them. Notably inferior weapons and equipment require things like fighting a 21st century infantry platoon (heavy weapons included) with nothing more than a revolver, or taking on power-armored soldiers with payload rifles with a M-16 and sheer balls. Psionic and quantum powers do count as "superior equipment" if their combat effects are notably superior to what the Paramorph's equipment can produce.

Requirements: The Paramorph has to be fast to be untouchable, and needs a minimum Dexterity + Athletics of 6.

Made of Iron: The Paramorph never gets hurt as badly as he should-bullets hit at shallow angles, the complex dynamics of the explosion's fireball happen to leave him mostly unharmed, the ammunition was of inexplicably poor quality, and so on. This knack may be repurchased.

System: The Paramorph adds (Inspiration) to his bashing/lethal/aggravated soak. Repurchase adds (Inspiration * 2) to his soak instead. This soak is considered natural soak.

Requirements: A Paramorph with this needs the toughness to shrug glancing blows off, and requires Stamina 3+.

Resilient: The Paramorph seems to get hurt, but he always finds a way to shrug them off, like an action hero or a Call of Duty protagonist. One moment he's been shot, the next moment he's fine. You must have been mistaken, or it had to have been a near miss. Whatever the case, they can seem to soak up endless amounts of gunfire as long as they get a few quick breathers behind chest-high walls or convenient scene cuts.

System: The Paramorph gains a second "Heroic" health track, made up of (Inspiration + 1) -0 Health Levels. The Paramorph assigns all health damage he or she takes to this track first. This "Heroic" health track heals instantly at the end of a scene no matter what damage it's filled with, and regenerates 1 health level per round in combat.

Requirements: A certain amount of willpower and resilience is required for this knack. Paramorphs with this knack must have a Willpower of 6+ and a Resistance of 2+.

Hard to Kill: A Paramorph with this Knack finds dying to be the hardest thing he's ever done in his life.

System: The first time in any scene the Paramorph would be reduced past Incapacitated with lethal or aggravated damage, the Paramorph is merely reduced to his last -4 health level instead.

Requirements: Only the strongest willed people can will themselves to literally not die. This knack requires Willpower 7+.

Last Stand: Heroes never die without accomplishing something. A Paramorph with this knack is incapable of dying before getting at least one last word in. And that word is generally lethal.

System: If the Paramorph is reduced past Incapacitated with lethal or aggravated damage, the Paramorph ignores any damage past his Incapacitated level. In this state, the Paramorph is invulnerable to any and all harm, regains all Inspiration, and ignores wound penalties. Furthermore, the Paramorph doubles his Permanent Inspiration and all dice pools (as well as automatic successes)-including pools for damage. This heroic state lasts for one turn, at the end of which the Paramorph drops dead for good.

Requirements: To be a hero to the last is something only the strongest willed and toughest men and women can achieve. This knack requires Stamina 4+ and Willpower 8+.

Indomitable Will: The character is essentially impossible to brainwash, interrogate, or break, even with psionic or quantum powers.

System: All mundane attempts to brainwash the character or extract information automatically fail. All attempts to use mind-altering powers on the Paramorph (including mental blast) are at (Inspiration + 2) difficulty.

Requirements: The character must have Willpower 6+.

Resolute: The character has nearly infinite reserves of willpower, above and beyond what one might think humanly possible.

System: The character adds (Inspiration) to his permanent willpower. This increases the pool for willpower rolls, but also increases the maximum number of temporary willpower points a character can possess.

Requirements: The character requires the ability to endure pain and suffering, and must have an Endurance of 2+.

Damage-Increasing

Dim Mak: The Paramorph hits weak points with every shot or blow. A Daredevil with this ability can destroy cars with single rifle bullets, kill a man with a single punch, and so on. This knack may be repurchased.

System: The Paramorph reduces enemy soak by (Inspiration) before calculating damage. Repurchasing adds [1] to the damage add of all attacks the Daredevil makes.

Requirements: Only the perceptive can seek out and hit weakpoints, and therefore a character needs Perception 3+ to use this knack.

Born to Kill: The Paramorph is exceptionally adept at dealing damage with any tool he or she has available.

System: The Paramorph may reroll any dice which do not come up as successes on a damage roll. The reroll stands.

Requirements: This Knack only works with any combat skill that the Paramorph has at 2+. Any lower, and the Paramorph isn't skilled enough to maximize weapon damage.

Assassin: The Paramorph, when faced with an unaware foe, is always in a position to strike and deal the absolute maximum damage.

System: When attacking from surprise, the Paramorph deals a killing blow-all damage dice are considered to have rolled successes.

Requirements: An assassin has to be stealthy and have a good "poker face". This Knack requires Manipulation 3+ and Stealth 2+.

Improvisation

Universally Deadly: The Paramorph is a weapons savant, who has a connection to a virtual eternity of experience in a hundred different lifespans of weapons usage. He is familiar with every weapon which has been made or will ever be made in history.

System: The Paramorph adds +2 damage and +1 accuracy to all weapons use, and takes no penalties for using exotic or unfamiliar weapons. Furthermore, the Paramorph's expertise with weapons means that all armed attacks are at +1 difficulty against him-he knows the characteristics of weapons so well he can instinctively position himself to minimize threats.

Requirements: The Paramorph must have at least one combat ability at 4+ to use this knack.

Ten Thousand Weapons: In the hands of the Paramorph, everything can be used as a weapon.

System: The Paramorph takes no penalties for using improvised weapons, and increases their accuracy to +0 (if it was lower) and their damage to +3B or +1L (again, if the original damage was lower). Apply this before applying any other weapons-modifying knacks like Universally Deadly.

Requirements: The Paramorph must have either Melee or Athletics 4+ to have the skill to use anything and everything as a weapon.

Panacea: Uppity Novas and Psions might claim they're immune to bullets, but they never met you. Don't ask how impossibly lucky you have to be to hit nearly intangible things with solid projectiles. You're that impossibly lucky.

System: The Paramorph's attacks ignore damage reductions or immunities from powers such as Biokinesis, Density Decrease, and other powers which give resistance or immunity to most weapons.

Requirements: This Knack requires expert timing, a good amount of luck, and a lot of skill to use, and requires Wits 4+ and a combat ability at 4+.

Miscellaneous

Trick Shot: The Paramorph is impossibly good with firearms, capable of doing incredible trick shots and impossible feats of marksmanship.

System: The Paramorph halves the final difficulty of all called shots (round down). Furthermore, the Paramorph takes no additional penalties from attempting a called shot-they do not go last in Initiative when attempting one. Finally, the Paramorph adds a number of dice equal to the original difficulty penalty of the trick shot. However, this Knack halves the number of extra successes when applied to damage.

Requirements: A trick shooter must be a skilled shot, with Firearms/Heavy Weapons/Gunnery 3+ or above.

Utility Knacks

Preparation

Brilliance: The Paramorph is a font of useful facts and knowledge. More practically, the Paramorph can figure out any unknown tool or device in a handful of minutes, if that.

System: The Paramorph can learn how to use an unfamiliar tool extremely quickly. A Paramorph from the 1920s with this Knack who ended up in the 21st century would be able to operate a computer as well as the average person within minutes. Furthermore, the Paramorph has an intuitive idea of what any tool does and how to make use of it, even odd tools such as alien technology. Finally, the Paramorph gains (Inspiration) dice to any attempts to repair or reverse-engineer objects.

Requirements: A brilliant character must be intelligent, and cannot be slow-witted, with a minimum Intelligence of 3+ and Wits of 2+.

Excessively Prepared: The Paramorph always has the right tool for the job, or a sufficiently practical improvised tool.

System: The Paramorph never takes penalties for lack of valid tools-because if he needs a tool, it'll be within arm's reach. This extends to utilities such as food or water as well, as long as it's even remotely possible to find it in the environment.

Requirements: Someone excessively prepared has to be very good at improvisation and creative uses for equipment, with a minimum Wits of 3+.

Mobility

Shortcut: The Paramorph can always find the shortest and easiest possible route from point A to point B, however implausible it may be. This Knack may be repurchased.

System: The Paramorph ignores all movement penalties due to broken or difficult terrain and may traverse it at full speed with no need for any sort of roll. A repurchase renders the Paramorph immune to any incidental environmental hazards that could plausibly be avoided with luck. A Daredevil with this Knack could sprint through a minefield without worry, but couldn't walk through a river of acid, for example.

Requirements: The character must have a minimum Athletics of 2+ and Survival of 1+. The repurchase requires an Athletics of 3+.

Ace Pilot/Stunt Driver/Sea Dog/Trick Rider: The Paramorph is a god among men in his chosen conveyance. An Ace Pilot can make anything that flies pull off outright impossible maneuvers, while Stunt Drivers do the same with land vehicles and Sea Dogs do the same with ships. Trick Riders, of course, can do it with animal mounts. This Knack may be repurchased multiple times, each repurchase allowing the Paramorph impossible expertise with another mode of transportation.

System: The Paramorph adds his permanent Inspiration to a vehicle's maneuverability score, increases the vehicle's safe speed to its normal maximum speed, and increases its maximum speed by 10% per point of permanent Inspiration with a combination of redlining the engine, massaging the odds of catastrophic failure, and subtle temporal trickery. Furthermore, while the vehicle is moving, all attacks against the vehicle that the Paramorph is aware of have their difficulty increased by (Inspiration/2 or Wits/2), whichever is higher (round down). Finally, if the Paramorph is Incapacitated or killed while at the controls of a vehicle, the Paramorph ignores it (treating it as a mere -4 wound penalty) until the vehicle is destroyed or stops moving.

Requirements: The character must have a Drive/Pilot/Ride ability of 3+ to purchase the knack relevant to the vehicle type. (Naval vessels use "Drive").

Obstacle Course/Navigational Hazard: The Paramorph's escape routes always end up being tangled obstacle courses which are as dangerous to his pursuers as the Paramorph himself. "Obstacle Course" applies this to foot chases, while "Navigational Hazard" applies this to vehicular chases. This Knack may be repurchased once to apply the effects to both.

System: Whenever a pursuing opponent suffers a mishap or takes damage from collision or melee attack, they take (Inspiration * 2) dice of bashing damage, soakable normally. If the cause of damage was an attack or collision, this damage is unsoakable instead. Furthermore, if a vehicle is destroyed by this damage and has anything flammable on it, it inexplicably bursts into flames and explodes. Its passengers may attempt a Dex + Athletics roll at +2 difficulty to avoid horrible flaming death.

Requirements: The character needs Athletics 2+ for Obstacle Course and Drive 2+ for Navigational Hazard, to avoid the dangers in their escape routes.

Stealth

Spy's Luck: The Paramorph cannot be eavesdropped on. Lady Luck finds a way to interfere with the most subtle eavesdropping and disrupt any attempts at covert surveillance.

System: Any attempts at covert surveillance of the Daredevil automatically fail without the use of powers such as Telepathy, Clairsentience, or ESP or an Ability Mastery. Even those powers are at +2 difficulty to track and monitor the Daredevil. This Knack has no effect on more obvious methods of information gathering, such as news cameras or breaking into one's luggage.

Requirements: A character has to be good at either stealth or subterfuge, with a Stealth of 2+ or Subterfuge of 2+, to have Spy's Luck.

Binary Invisibility: Not every computer system is perfect. Not every case can be tested. Inexplicable bugs pop up all the time. They just happen, though, to pop up whenever you show up-and they work to make you invisible against most types of electronic surveillance and data mining. This Knack may be repurchased.

System: Any unwanted attempts to trace the character over computer systems automatically fail. The character has a nonexistent presence over the internet, OpNet, or any other world wide network, outside of friends or family who the character wants to correspond to. The character doesn't get spam mail or anything else, and attempts to search for the character come up with the wrong person. Similarly, the character never gets recorded on cameras. If repurchased, all automated electronic systems fail to respond to the character-if there's nobody actively monitoring a security system, he could waltz straight through the front door, trip every alarm, and nothing would go amiss.

Requirements: The character has to be at least nominally computer savvy, with a Computers of 2+ or Intrusion of 3+.

Ninja: The Paramorph is a ghost in the shadows. Although he isn't actually invisible (Psions and Novas do that instead), he is a master of stealth, capable of finding some way of hiding in a bright featureless room.

System: All difficulty penalties to Stealth are halved.

Requirements: Ninjas have to be good at sneaking around, with a minimum Stealth of 3+.

Untraceable: The Paramorph leaves no trace of his passing. DNA evidence comes out degraded, footprints get ruined almost immediately, fingerprints are smeared and useless-even scents get masked and rapidly dissipate.

System: The Paramorph leaves no forensic evidence on the scene and cannot be tracked without an Ability Mastery in Investigation or powers (such as Mega-Perception, Clairsentience, or Pretercognition). Any attempts to track the Paramorph with such powers are at +2 difficulty. Note this doesn't prevent the Paramorph from incriminating herself-if she foolishly leaves her heirloom pistol at a crime scene, the lack of DNA evidence won't mask that it's her gun.

Requirements: None.

Temporal Control

Relatively few Paramorphs in the early age evolved from their control over instantaneous happenings to the ability to outright manipulate time itself-Maxwell Anderson Mercer was the most notable, but not the sole, paramorph with that power. However, the Nova Age and (eventually) the Psion Age have made it much more common.

Unlike the other powers, temporal control is, in fact, obvious and blatant. The Paramorph has begun to see through the cracks and finally understands what his power is, why his life is so blessed. With that comes manipulation of time-dilation, acceleration, stasis, and finally, more exotic and riskier options like acausal time loops, temporal cloning, precognition, and so forth.

Temporal Control techniques are bought as Knacks, but require Inspiration to activate and use. Furthermore, they also tend to require an Inspiration minimum of at least 5-weaker Paramorphs do not have the raw power for gross time manipulation.

Temporal Manipulation Techniques

Time Dilation: The Paramorph has mastered the most basic but most general-purpose temporal manipulation technique, allowing her to move and react faster by accelerating time. This knack is repurchaseable up to five times and requires Inspiration 5. Each repurchase requires an additional point of permanent Inspiration as well (so the first repurchase requires Inspiration 6, the second Inspiration 7, and so on, up to the fifth repurchase which requires Inspiration 10).

System: The Paramorph may spend 1 Inspiration point to gain an additional action for the rest of the scene. Like all additional actions, this action cannot be split. Each repurchase grants another extra action on activation (so 2 extra actions with 1 repurchase, 3 with 2, and so on, up to 6 additional actions with the maximum 5 repurchases).

Temporal Loop: The Paramorph can twist his own timeline to be in more than one place at one given time. This Knack requires Inspiration 5.

System: The Paramorph may spend 1 Inspiration point to warp his own timeline, creating an effective temporal clone of the character as of that exact moment. This duplicate tracks health and willpower damage separately, but shares the same Inspiration track. This loop is not stable and to avoid triggering chronology protection conjectures and being retroactively erased, only lasts for a scene.

Time Stop: The Paramorph can accelerate her own personal timeframe to the point where everyone else is effectively standing still. Although this pause may only last for a few seconds, this is often more than enough for any Paramorph. Timestop requires Inspiration 6. This Knack may be repurchased.

System: The Paramorph may spend 1 Inspiration point to gain an additional turn where only she (or any other Paramorph with similar powers) may act at all. Opponents may not even attempt to react to anything that happens in that turn, even if it involves a dozen anti-tank missiles being fired at them. The repurchase allows reflexive activation of Timestop and allows it to "hang" for as long as a Paramorph needs to escape danger, allowing a Paramorph to pay 1 Inspiration to evade any attack automatically (although large area attacks like Radiant Conversion, nuclear weapons, and so on require the Paramorph to pay an additional 1 Willpower surcharge due to strain as well).