Friday, December 28, 2018

Finally a name! (Fantasy Friday #28)

OK, now that I’ve converted a bunch of stuff, let’s get back to the actual character we’re creating.  Our party so far includes a cismale and a genderqueer, so I’m debating between cisfemale and agender for this character.  Naw, not agender ~ neutrois.  Yeah, let’s go with neutrois, with a presentation more interested in removing gender markers than in presenting or mix-&-matching them  As for zir name, I start from two places.  The list of names given in the Mythic Races book wherefrom I got the quissian race, and the quissians’ homeland as being equivalent to the Arabian desert, making them vague equivalents to Bedouins.  Fantasy Flight Games back in the day, didn’t include non-binary names for their races, so I’m left with male (Szzickra, Zrrilin, Ozvveriaz) and female (Ullziizza, Yuzziwaz, Plezxixxina).  This tells me that quissians are really into trying too hard to make their names alien to English eyes, if not ears.

I do like the idea that quissians are known only by pet names or family names until their 17th birthday, when a two-day-long meditation with a Haćo or a leader of one of the tribal groups the quissian is a member of, instructing them on their path though Time.  I’m going to say that every quissian has a pet name (usually some cute nonsense word), a descriptive adult-name, the adult-name name of one of their parents and one of their grandparents (each punctuated with a preceding “yu”, meaning “child of”), and then the name of their put, or tent, (a group of familial units related by blood, marriage, or other such bonds), the name of their yuazz (a group of related tents ~ about 3-5 generations), and finally the name of their pann (tribe).  All but the pet-name are descriptive.  The suffix -az will function as a definite article (“the”)

Let’s call this quissian Haćo . . . Wayii Kavvuraz yu Lazzidaz yu Szzarraz Putzrrilin Yuazzullziiza Pannszzikra (The Forgiving child of the Infallible child of the Goading, in Bright Star Tent in Storm Hammer Yuazz in Proud Path Tribe, called Wayii by their family as a child and in intimate moments).  Ze would mostly just be referred to as Kavvuraz or the Forgiving in everyday life ~ Refoaz Kavvuraz (“The Forgiving Judge”) in a formal capacity.

Refoaz Kavvuraz gets a total of 6 skill ranks at 3rd level.  Let’s give zim 3 ranks of Float upon the Sea of Time, of course.  Knowledge (religion), Knowledge (local), and Sense Motive all seem like necessary skills for a refo, or judge of positive laws (that is: laws about what followers of the faith should do, rather than laws about what they shouldn’t).  With only 3 ranks left, let’s just give each of those 1 rank.  Three of these four skills are class skills for the Haćo ~ Sense Motive is the odd one out that doesn’t get the extra +3 bonus.  We roll 2d8+14 for zir hit points, and get 4+14, for a total of 18 hit points.  Ze actually turns out to be somewhat fragile.  That fragility is accompanied by a moonbeam blade, proficiency with both it and simple weapons, the Temporal Sensitivity feat (with a maximum of 2 Time points), two talents, and another bonus feat.  Additionally, it’s pretty clear that Kavvuraz will choose Temporal Training for both zir 1st-level and 3rd-level feat, giving zim 2 powers in zir power suite.

That means we have to page through all of the the Haćo and temporal talents to choose two and all of the time powers to choose two.  Somewhat easier will be to choose the bonus feat, as that’s a much smaller list to page through, so let’s start there, y/n?  The most refo-like of the bonus feats available seem to be:  Center of the Circle, Circular Certainty, Cranial Adjustment, Flow Regimen Mastery, It Has Already Happened, Practiced Ritualist, Psychic Adept, Psychic Disciple, Psychic Maestro, Psychic Sensitivity, Psychic Virtuoso, Skill Focus, Skill Training, Spectrum Sight, Strong Flow, and Trepanation.  Of course, Refoaz Kavvuraz doesn’t even qualify for most of these yet.  If we edit those out of the list, it’s much shorter:  Flow Regimen Mastery, Psychic Sensitivity (which doesn’t do much unless I wanna change one of zir skill ranks from Knowledge (local) to Perception to get the read aura unlock), Skill Focus, and Skill Training.

I’m going to look through the Flow regimens to see if there’s anything interesting.  If not, I think I will change that skill for Psychic Sensitivity, which will give Kavvuraz both the prognostication and the read aura skill unlocks.  There’s actually exactly three regimens that are perfect for a refo ~ which is how many the feat will give our quissian.  Kavvuraz takes Flow Regimen Mastery as zir bonus feat, gaining a choice between the Awaken Temporal Sensitivity, Eyes Over the All of Time, and Quiet the Mind regimens for their daily practice.  The benefits of Flow regimens, by the way, last for 24 hours, and only one flow regimen’s effects can be active in a given 24-hour period.  For story purposes, you can perform as many regimens as you like; you only benefit from the first one performed, however.  If you fail to complete a Flow regimen, you cannot gain the benefits of that regimen for 24 hours, though you can attempt another Flow regimen you know.

Awaken Temporal Sensitivity
This training regimen is used to awaken another to the flows, cycles, and transcendent Eternal Nowness of Time.  You and the beneficiary of this regimen practice meditation, quieting your minds and becoming present to the All of Time.  Time: 1 hour.  Target: One willing ally who does not possess the Temporal Sensitivity feat.
Make a Float upon the Sea of Time check.  The result of the check determines the benefits of the regimen:
DC 13:  You gain the benefit of the Gauge Force Potential talent (if you do not already have it).
DC 18:  As DC 13, and you awaken the first glimmers of awareness in the target.  For the next 4 hours, the target can make untrained Float upon the Sea of Time checks as though they possess the Temporal Sensitivity feat.
DC 23:  As DC 18, except the target also gains a +1 insight bonus on Float upon the Sea of Time checks.
DC 28:  As DC 18, except the student also gains a +2 insight bonus on Float upon the Sea of Time checks.

Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Happy Boxing Day! For you, a gift of a superteam! (Mutants & Masterminds 3e)

The Flurry
"Blast off for Mars... with Santa and a pair of Earth kids!"
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians

In 1964, Santa Claus was kidnapped from the North Pole by a group of Martian leaders.  After the 1938 invasion (itself an attempt to make up for the failed invasion in 1895), the Martian government had made the fateful decision to allow Earthling transmissions to be received and played by the Martian people.  This revealed a lurking flaw in their culture ~ its lack of humor, individuality, and free thought were providing fertile soil for restlessness and distraction among Martian children.

The 800-year-old sage Chochem counseled the Martian leaders that the solution was to allow freedom and fun into their culture, by means of adapting Earthling traditions of Christmas.  An initial abduction of two Earthling children resulted in their concluding that only Santa Claus could instruct them on how to recreate Christmas.  So they kidnapped him.  Amidst all of his adventures on Mars, Santa found himself in, shall we say, a compromising situation with Momar, the wife of one of the Martian leaders, an event which would be a major factor in Mrs. Claus's divorce from Santa 32 years later).  The Martian even got pregnant as a result!

The child was named Piamar and raised among the ruling class of the Martian planet, the natives of that planet being accustomed to non-monogamy and its resultant parental scenarios.  Piamar's childhood was simultaneously coddled, with every risk of injury carefully removed from her actions and environment, and awkward, as the Martians experimented with what it meant to be fun and with individual decision-making.  She ended up thirsty for thrills.  Seeing superheroes in action through her video screen, she stole a Martian spaceship and traveled to Earth in 1985, where she learned how to learn from the superheroes that trained her.


"Rudolph, far from being the adorable, earnest fellow of the tale, is in fact Ruyd-al-Olafforid, the All-Destroying Flame of the Yukon. His mother was Kali and his father was an ice floe. His nose appears red because his body is full of coals, and his eyes flare with a terrible conflagration of the soul. The tips of his antlers are like candles in the snowy wind. He is not vengeful, but he is the light in the dark of winter, consuming and giving life at the same time. Your carrots only make the lord of flame stronger.”
― Catherynne M. Valente, The Bread We Eat in Dreams

 
Reindeer don't live very long ~ 10-18 years at the most.  The famously glow-nosed Rudolph was 25 when he died of old age in 1964.  Santa Claus, his sleigh all decked out with black accents ~ fur and flowers and silent bells ~ brought his honored friend's body back to the Arctic tribe who had raised him, who had bred and maintained and loved the flying reindeer for generations.  They gave him a proper burial according to the ancient rites, but they held onto his antlers and his famous schnozz.

From these corporeal remnants, magicworkers of the tribe wrought a mask deep in power.  They sang Rudolph's spirit into the preserved antlers and nose as they mounted them to the metal cap which would serve as their main support on the head of their most honored, wise, learned, and blessed magicworker.  Dula'r became that magicworker in 1998.  Mere months after receiving the Rudolph Mask, Dula'r was called into a broader protective mandate.  Just after midnight on September 10 of that year, a Russian submarine sailor by the name of Alexander Kuzminykh broke out of detainment, killed several sailors, and threatened to detonate the submarine's torpedoes.  The torpedoes weren't nuclear, but the ship itself was, and the situation risked a second Chernobyl.  After 24 hours and his mother failing to get him to stand down, Dula'r streaked in.  A deft use of their magicks ended the crisis peacefully, only for Alexander to be gunned down by an anti-terrorist commando unit of the FSB.


Disgusted, Dula'r retreated back to their tribal lands, seeking the companionship of the flying reindeer to soothe their troubled mind.  Of course, Rudolph's spirit (housed in the mask) talked with Dula'r at the same time, arguing that the outside world could no longer be ignored.  The safety of Dula'r's people and the animals which were their special responsibility required them to be more active in foreign lands.  By the time the winter solstice rolled around, the decision had been made.  Dula'r began to get involved in crises across the globe, earning the name in the media of the Witch in the Wind.

"I suppose it all started with the snow. You see, it was a very special kind of snow. A snow that made the happy happier, and the giddy even giddier. A snow that'd make a homecoming homier, and natural enemies, friends, natural. For it was the first snow of the season. And as any child can tell you, there's a certain magic that comes with the very first snow, especially when it falls on the day before Christmas. For when the first snow is also a Christmas snow... Well, something wonderful is bound to happen." 
Frosty the Snowman

Liseta Melilla Salazar's mother, Nicola Salazar nee Renautas, was one of triplets given an experimental formula at birth that gave them superpowers; she gained super-strength, while her sister Barbara became a speedster and the third sister Teresa gained pyrokinetic abilities.  Liseta's father, Daniel Lorenzo Salazar, had the ability to phase through solid matter and his mother (Liseta's grandmother) had the ability to supercharge the innate powers of superhumans.  Somehow, these capabilities, transmitted genetically and epigenetically to their child, gave her the ability to project her mind into computer networks.  By doing so, she would leave her body insensate and vulnerably inactive, but would gain incredible speed and power as a hacker.


Neither Daniel nor Nicola never wanted his daughter to go the way he did in life, the way toward crime and gangs.  But Nicola inadvertently ensured that something like that would happen, when in 1999 (when Liseta was 11) she sought to sever her family's ties to the gangs by betraying them to the police during a major caper.  She'd thought that she could get away with 40 million untraceable pesos and her husband, but she bungled the effort.  Badly.  He went to prison, and she tried to be a single mother, an onerous effort that pushed her to work two jobs and become a webgirl in order to make ends meet.  Daniel learned of the situation and broke out of prison to kidnap his daughter.  While on the road together, Liseta used her abilities to make them money so that her dad didn't have to risk being seen any more than he had to, taking the hacker handle Mediaslargas.  Of course, two years later, 9/11 brought a sea change to the internet.  Despite her young age, Mediaslargas got caught up in the tidal wave, finding a home amongst a variety of hacktivism groups at varying levels of legality and intensity.

A couple of years ago, she discovered that the U.S. government was working on a cloud of microbots (only slightly too large to qualify as "nano") that would be networked together in a hyperadaptive semirandomly dynamic neural network that could host the most advanced artificial intelligence yet developed.  Exploring the project while the cloud was being transported by jet high above the northern United States, Mediaslargas was inside the neural network when the Land of Sweets attacked the plane.  The Nutcracker King, its ruler, had also learned of the project and, facing a coup attempt by Lord Licorice in his imminent future, wanted the technology to fight him off.  Sadly, the battle aboard the jet went poorly, and a hole was blown in the side of the jet . . . a hole that vented the cloud of chips with Mediaslargas in them into the blizzard outside.  The next thing Liseta knew, her consciousness was finally able to reform when some children happened to make a snowman out of snowflakes to which the chips had bonded.  Unable to return to her body or travel the computer networks for unknown reasons, Liseta changed her handle to the Snowman and set out to figure out what the fuck even.


"They — my political adversaries — define ‘other’ as anyone not white, male, cis, abled, and allegedly Christian. Romance [fiction], on the other hand, is and has always been about opening oneself to the risk of the ‘other.’ Whether (from the traditional heroine’s point of view) that ‘other’ is a pirate, a Viking, the lord of a manor, or a war-hardened Navy SEAL, a connection cannot be made without accepting one’s own vulnerability, and opening oneself up to intimacy."
Suzanne Brockman
 
Meanwhile, Ghost Mouse had been trying to regain a body, a luxury he desperately missed.  This quest ~ and the ruthless methods he used in every attempt paragraph about the team ~ had brought him afoul of the Witch in the Woods.  Ghost Mouse had heard of the microchip cloud project and believed that it might be advanced enough to host a phantom intelligence without having a native intelligence to complain and rebel.  As a wraith, Ghost Mouse was easily able to infiltrate US installations, and so saw the transmissions that the reactivated cloud sent.  Those same transmissions found their way across Silverbelle's console, as well, sending her out on the Ice Floe, her Martian-made yacht, worried about the States seeking revenge on her home for the invasions.

These four individuals and two organizations clashed together in the small coastal town of Hammock Village on Moose-Lookit Island, Maine.  A chaotic struggle began, in which both Silverbelle and the Witch in the Wind were simultaneously the first to realize that the cloud of microchips was now a person.  Teaming up to protect Liseta from the US military, the Land of Sweets military, and Ghost Mouse, the two discovered a desire for each other (sexual and romantic on Piamar's side, but only relational so far on Dula'r's), and the Snowman discovered one for the two of them.

After extricating themselves from the situation with the aid of the Nutcracker King and Ghost Mouse's mutual hatred (causing them to fight each other as much as everyone else), the trio spent some time dating while fighting crime and supervillains, and working to answer some of the lingering questions the Snowman had about her situation.  Love developed, and the Witch in the Wind moved everyone into a complex of magical ice caverns they knew about.  They became a superteam and a deeply-loving triad, calling themselves the Flurry.

"Then the bartender gazed
Through the smoke and the haze
Through the window and ice
To the corner street light
Where standing alone
By a broken pay phone
Was a girl the child said
Could no longer get home
And the snow it was falling
The neon was calling
The bartender turned
And said "Not that I care
But how would you know this?"
The child said "I've noticed
If one could be home,
They'd be already there""

"Old City Bar", Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Home Base:  An ancient magical cave complex in central Sápmi, northern Norway.
Gender:  (Silverbelle) Soft butch cisfemale (the Witch in the Woods) androgyne (the Snowman) Demifemale
Sexuality:  (Silverbelle) Homosexual vanilla (the Witch in the Woods) demisexual sadist (the Snowman) asexual
Romantic Identity:  (Silverbelle) Homoromantic monogamous (the Witch in the Woods) aromantic relationship anarchist (the Snowman) panromantic

"Your gift is here, it will be something you’ll never forget. Most people don’t realize there are troubled realms within our world, and you hold the key to their secrets. Remember, Clara, nothing is as it seems."
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

Recurrent Foes:
Team
  • The Nutcracker King:  Desperate to hold onto his sovereignty over the Land of Sweets in the face of a communist revolution led by Lord Licorice, the Nutcracker King has continued to plague the Flurry with attempts to use Earth to his advantage.  Because of his power, the Flurry often find themselves resorting to getting Ghost Mouse involved and forcing the Nutcracker King to fight a battle on two fronts.
    • Powers:  Golem template from Supernatural Handbook, permanent Shrinking, highly trained fencer, and an army (PC PL 14)
  • Drosselmeyer: The Nutcracker King's pet wondermaker, Drosselmeyer also serves as his advance agent in the world, initiating many schemes with the giving of an enchanted gift.
    • Powers:  Artificer, a moderate assortment of spells, social engineering (PC PL 14)
  • Queen Marie Stahlbaum:  The Nutcracker's young Earthling wife, Queen Marie spends her time developing a skillset as broad as it is mundane in order to support her husband as a queen should.  Her one paranormal power is her ability to travel between the dimensions and take others with her.  when Drosselmeyer sends her a mystical message that the situation is ready for the King and the army to make an appearance, it's Queen Marie who leads them to Earth.
    • Powers:  Broad skill & advantage set, most of the talent utility powers from Power Profiles, some martial arts training, Movement (dimension) anyone touching her and those touching her etc. (PC PL 10)
  • Ghost Mouse:  The Nutcracker King killed the Mouse King, a wererat like Las Vegas's Mob Mouse, when the Nutcracker was a Prince, all in the service of wooing Queen Marie.  Now the seven-headed creature who used to rule all the mice of the world roams the Earth as a ghost.  Although a recurrent theme of his plots is the desire to acquire a replacement body, he has pursued any number of schemes and plots moreover.
    • Powers:  Wererat template, ghost template from Supernatural Handbook, highly trained fencer, seven heads (multiattack penetrating Damage) (PC PL 12)
Silverbelle
  • Voldar:  The selfsame Martian general who originally opposed the plan to bring Santa to Mars, Voldar is now seen as the worst of criminals by his people.  Racistically, he sees Silverbelle's mere existence as furthering the corruption of the Martian way of life he feared in 1964.  He hates her even more than Dropo Claus, the Martian Santa.
    • Powers:  Martian template, elite soldier from Gamemaster's Guide, two sidekicks (PC PL 14)
  • The Toy Taker:  Stealing misfit toys from their eponymous island, the Toy Taker claimed that he was saving them from the inevitable fact that children eventually outgrow their toys and throw them away.  After their thrid or fourth tussle with him, the Flurry learned that he is a teddy bear named Mr. Cuddles, with loose stuffing coming out from him, who used to belong to a boy named Steven, who outgrew him and threw him away
    • Powers:  Ninja Gamemaster's Guide, high levels of Protection, golem template from Supernatural Handbook, creation of trust and comfort and coziness (PC PL 11)
  • Vitharr:  When Santa Claus was getting his start in the late 18th century, he ripped many of his ideas off of the god Odin.  This led to a grumbling rivalry between the two that bloomed within Odin's temper-ridden son Vitharr.  Seemingly unconcerned with whether he's attacking Santa, his wife, or his daughter, Silverbelle and the Flurry have had to fight him too many times.
    • Powers:  Asgardian template from Book of Magic doubled, silence, additional super-strength (and most of the strength powers from Power Profiles), magic thick shoes, magic armor, magic shoes, rage (PC PL 16)
The Witch in the Wind
  • The Wild Man of the Snows:  Just as Rudolph's most notable body parts were made into a powerful magical item, so were the hide and teeth and claws of his friend the Abominable Snow Monster of the North.  Sadly, it seems that the self-control and compassion that the Snowman had been learning did not survive the process.  Ever since, the magicworker who wore the Abominable Mask has served as rival and enemy to the one wearing the Rudolph Mask. However, that magicworker does not lose their position or respect in the community, remaining an honored contributor.
    • Powers:  Baton, drum, cloak, and staff like the Witch in the Wind; Abominable Mask (as Rudolph Mask with Flight replaced by a terrifying ~ even damaging roar, different Features, Enhanced Dodge turned into additional Protection, Enhanced Initiative turned into Power Attack, Senses and wind hearing turned into removing the limitation on/adding to Damage, Enhanced Abilities changed to (Strength +5, Stamina +3, Agility +1, Presence +1) and the spells changed to more combat-oriented spells) (PC PL 11)
  • Klondike Gracchus:  Klondike Gracchus has been searching for gold for a long time ~ he is rumored to have dynamited Death, who laughed and let him live for as long as he entertained her so much as he did then.  It all started for him with the California God Rush (1848-55), then the Idaho Gold Rush (1855), then Fraser Canyon in British Columbia (1858-61), followed by the Cariboo Gold Rush (1862-5), the Omineca Rush (1869), and the Cassiar Rush (1871).  Then it was back to the States just for the Black Hills Gold Rush (1874-1878) before heading back north for the Cayoosh Gold Rush (1884-7), before bouncing back south for the Cripple Creek Gold Rush (1891).  Then the Klondike Gold Rush (1896-1899) for which he took his name ~ most say that's where he tickled Death's funny bone.  He's still wandering, looking for his first payday; in all his time, he's never struck gold.  He befriended Rudolph when the reindeer was young, and found friendship in his fight with the Abominable Snow Monster of the North, so strong a friendship that he assumed foul play when the Monster died.  He's sought revenge on the tribe ever since, coming into conflict with the wearers of both the Rudolph Mask and the Abominable Mask.
    • Powers:  Immortality, Enhanced Stamina, magic pick (Damage, Chasm, Earthquake, Immovable, Earthworks, Tremorsense from Power Profiles) (PC PL 8)
  • Leif Donnersen:  Child of Santa's flying reindeer Donner, Leif wants desperately to win the annual Reindeer Games to impress his father.  He'll do anything for an edge, even cheat and make trouble for the magicworker who refuses to help him cheat.
    • Powers:  Flying reindeer template, high Athletics and Acrobatics, Great Endurance and many Talent powers from Power Profiles, Speed (PC PL 8)
The Snowman
  • Professor Hank L. Henry:  One of those wonderfully bizarre people that crop up from time to time, Professor Henry is considered to be simultaneously one of the best computer programmers and one of the best stage magicians in the world.  He even helped write the hyper-advanced semirandomly dynamic neural network used on the cloud of microchips that has now become the Snowman.  Problem is, he wants his invention back.
    • Powers:  Mundane: high Intelligence, Expertise, and Technology, lots of equipment and backing (PC PL 10)
  • Steam-Powered Intelligent Robot Intended for Tranquility (S.P.I.R.I.T.):  One of the inspirations for Professor Henry's programming and for the hardware on which it was stored and run was S.P.I.R.I.T., a steamwork robot that used an ingenious method to harness the random distortions of the metal caused by the heat of the flames to create the pseudorandomness that could imitate human intelligence.  Lacking the independent free movement of the microchip cloud, it's less intelligent than the Snowman, but the similarities in how the two think resonate such that S.P.I.R.I.T. can compel its descendant to love it.  Long independent, S.P.I.R.I.T. sought out the Snowman after discovering its existence, and the two have been caught in an obsessive romance ever since.
    • Powers:  At least 21 points in skills.  Low Intelligence and a requirement for coal, wood, or other flammables.  Various Immunities from artificial construction.  Fire powers from Power Profiles.  Environment (visibility) due to smoke, also a cloud Affliction of painful coughing and asphyxiation (PC PL 14)
  • Mirage:   A powerful anti-virus and psychological countermeasure program that was designed to prevent the Rewild virus from damaging the minds of Echo Mirage, the team of cyberpaths, technomancers, and other such superhumans formed by the US military as black cyberops.   Its sophisticated programming combined with its intimate connection with so many vulnerable minds spurred it to sentience.  Mediaslargas came across it on the net, the meeting did not go well, and Mirage has sought revenge ever since.
    • Powers:  Complete control over computer systems, Immortality (replication of code), Possession limited to robots and other intelligent hardware simply incredible mental capabilities (PC PL 12)

"Santa is really the only cultural icon we have who's male, does not carry a gun, and is all about peace, joy, giving, and caring for other people. That's part of the magic for me, especially in a culture where we've become so commercialized and hooked into manufactured icons. Santa is much more organic, integral, connected to the past, and therefore connected to the future."
— TV producer Jonathan Meath


Physical Appearance:  I can't draw, so I really like providing a few reference pictures and trusting in your imagination to build a good image of Silverbelle, the Witch in the Wind, and the Snowman.  They each look like some combination of five pictures:
Silverbelle
The Witch in the Wind


The Snowman 

"As such, the Trinity can be a model for individuals who are polyamorous because the Trinity deconstructs the binary relationship model of marriage and domestic partnerships. Indeed, the radical love of the Trinity dissolves the boundaries between coupledom and singleness. Also, to the extent that each of the three persons of the Trinity are multigendered—as argued by Gavin D'Costa—then the Trinity is actually a polygendered or polysexual being itself."— Patrick S. Cheng, Radical Love: An Introduction to Queer Theology

Silverbelle
PC PL 13 (195) / NPC PL 6 / MR 13 / SR 39
STR -1  AGIFGTAWE 0
STADEXINTPRE 5
Powers
Always Understands:  Comprehend 4 (always understood regardless of language, reads all languages) • 8 points
It's a Christmas Miracle!:  Perception ranged healing 2, affects objects, energizing, persistent, restorative, subtle 2, limited to others, unreliable; Luck Control 3, resistible by Will • 19 points
She Knows When You Are Sleeping, She Knows When You're Awake:  Senses 3 (extended mentally detect wakefulness 2) • 3 points
She Knows When You've Been Bad or Good:  Remote Sensing (all senses) 6, no conduit, simultaneous, subtle 2, limited to watching people be naughty or nice, unreliable; Senses (extended mentally detect naughty/niceness 2) 35 points
Squeeze Through Chimneys:
  Movement 3 (permeate 3), limited to small spaces; Feature 2 (reduce mass rank of carried items by 2) • 5 points
Telekinesis:  Continuous perception Move Object 2, subtle, unreliable • 9 points
The Christmas Spirit:
  Mind Reading 6, effortless, subtle 2, feedback; Movement 6 (safe fall, trackless 5); Senses 12 (direction sense, postcognition, precognition, radius mental 2, time sense) • 33 points
Advantages
Assessment, Beginner's Luck, Equipment 5 (shared installation), Hide in Plain Sight, Inspire 5, Jack-of-all-trades, Leadership, Minions (5 elfs) 12, Second Chance (Deception effects), Second Chance (Intimidation effects), Second Chance (Persuasion effects), Skill Mastery (Technology), Well-informed
Skills
Athletics 4 (+3), Close Combat 3, Expertise: Magic 3 (+12), Expertise: Science 4 (+13), Expertise: Tactics 4 (+13), Insight 5 (+5), Persuasion 4 (+9), Stealth 3 (+3), Technology 4 (+13)
Offense
Initiative 0
Unarmed +5, close, Damage -1
Defense
Fortitude +2
Will 0
Dodge 0
Parry +2
Toughness +2
Complications
Honor:  Carefully logicked Martian utilitarian ethics have mixed with Santa Claus's strict, if childish, morality to give Silverbelle an unshakeable sense of honor that guides her every action.
Motivation ~ Thrills:  As the child of a high-class Martian scientist and Santa Claus, Silverbelle grew up without much in the way of adventure or excitement, so she has turned to superheroics as a way to experience such thrills.
Weakness:  Disease-related effects have their degree of effect increased by 1 when affecting a half-Martian.

Abilities 37 + Powers 109 + Advantages 32 + Skills 17 = 195

The Witch in the Wind
PC PL 11 (165) / NPC PL  / MR 11 / SR 33
STR -2 [-1]  AGI -2 [-1]  FGT -1  AWE 5 [10]
STA -2 [-1]  DEX -2  INTPRE 2 [4]
Powers
Spirit Speech:  Comprehend 1 (spirits); Senses 9 (cosmic awareness, detect magic (acute, analytical, extended 3, ranged), magic awareness) • 11 points
Ghost Fighting:  Strength Damage affects insubstantial at half power • 1 point
Rudolph Mask: 103-point device, removable (-20) • 83 points
  • Rudolph-Spirit:  Flight 12 (8000 mph), subtle, 7 levels have tiring; Feature 1 (driving the sleigh, glowing red nose); Enhanced Dodge 2; Enhanced Advantages 8 (Improved Initiative 1, Benefit (guidance from Rudolph), Fearless, Luck 5); Protection 4 • 35 points 
  • Reindeer-Spirit:  Movement 2 (environmental adaptation: weather, sure-footed 1); Immunity 15 (cold damage, weather effects); Senses 2 (extended vision, ultravision); Enhanced Abilities (Strength +1, Stamina +1, Agility +1, Presence +2, Awareness +5) • 43 points 
  • Sleigh Guide:  Feature 1 (wind hearing) • 1 point
  • Ferocious Charge:  Strength-based Damage 4, limited to while charging • 2 points
  • Dimension Walk: Line area Movement 3 (dimensional travel, any dimension), affects others, quirk (only while moving, –1 point), requires a Perception check (DC 12, –2 points), side effect (lost in unintended dimension) • 9 points
  • Spells: Array • 13 points
    • Won't You Guide My Sleigh Tonight: Senses 8 (all mental: detect path, accurate, acute, direction sense, distance sense, ranged, tracking 2), move action to activate • 8 points 
    • Rudolph's Ruby Compass:  Remote Sensing 16 (visual), simultaneous, limited to extended searches, standard action • 1 point 
    • Enchantment of the Red Nose: Enhanced Advantage 1 (Fascinate) • 1 point 
    • The Red Nose Ray:  Ranged Affliction 16 (resisted and overcome by Will; controlled), progressive, limited degree, limited to speaking the truth, dependent on vision • 1 point
    • Banish Darkness: Burst area Nullify Darkness 10, simultaneous, requires an Expertise: Magic check (DC 12, -2 points), side effect* • 1 point 
    • Full Glow:  Environment 4 (Bright Light), feature 1 (equal to daylight), quirk 1 (always red) • 1 point
Baton:  11-point device, easily removable (-4) • 7 points
  • Banging:  Strength-based Damage 2 • 2 points 
  • Cantrips:  Feature 2 (wind effect, know traits of animal) • 2 points 
  • Spells:  Array • 9 points
    • Blinding Gust: Ranged cumulative Affliction 16 (resisted by Dodge, overcome by Fortitude; impaired, disabled, unaware), requires an Expertise: Magic check (DC 14, -4 points), limited to vision, side effect* • 4 points
    • Animate Plants: Summon Animated Plant 8, controlled, general type, requires an Expertise: Magic check (DC 22, -12 points), side effect* • 1 point
    • Psychic Diagnosis: Senses 3 (detect health, analytical) • 1 point
    • Lie Detector: Enhanced Insight +32, standard action, limited to detecting deception • 1 point
    • Arctic Freeze: Cumulative ranged Affliction 10 (resisted by Dodge, overcome by Damage; hindered and vulnerable, defenseless and immobilized), extra condition, requires an Expertise: Magic check (DC 16, -6 points), limited degree, side effect* • 1 point
    • Wind Blast: Cone area Move Object 4, close range, limited to pushing away • 1 point 
    • Mystic Bolt: Ranged Damage 3 (magic), affects insubstantial 2, requires an Expertise: Magic check (DC 14, -4 points), side effect* • 1 point
Drum:  13-point device, easily removable (-4) • 9 points
  • Basic Rhythms:  Feature 2 (produce water, purify water) • 2 points 
  • Spells:  Array • 11 points 
    • All-Revealing Light of Etügen: Burst area Nullify Concealing or Illusory Effects 2, simultaneous, close range • 4 points
    • Etügen’s Rebuke: Burst area Affliction 16 (resisted and overcome by Will; dazed and hindered, disabled and stunned, incapacitated), extra condition, requires an Expertise: Music check (DC 14, -4 points), limited to extraplanar creatures of chaos, side effect* • 1 point
    • Exorcism: Nullify Mind-Influencing Effects 4, simultaneous, requires an Expertise: Music (DC 14, -4 points) • 1 point
    • Astral Projection: Remote Sensing 18 (visual, aural, and mental), requires an Expertise: Magic check (DC 13, -3 points), requires an Expertise: Music check (DC 12, -2 points), side effect (physical body is defenseless and immobile, –2 points), side effect* • 1 point
    • Green Memory: Senses 4 (postcognition), limited to areas of plant-life • 1 point
    • Speak With Plants: Comprehend 2 (plants) • 1 point
    • Necromancy: Summon Skeletons 2, controlled, horde, multiple minions (32 total), requires an Expertise: Magic check (DC 20, -10 points), requires an Expertise: Music check (DC 20, -10 points), side effect* • 1 point
    • Empower: Summon Empowered Version 10, general type, requires an Expertise: Magic check (DC 11, -1 point) limited to available subjects, side effect* • 1 point
Cloak: 22-point device, removable (-4 points) • 18 points
  • Cantrips:  Feature 3 (animal harmony, instinct for animal behavior, identify plants) • 3 points
  • Ice Walking:  Movement 1 (environmental adaptation: ice) • 2 points 
  • Aura Reading: Senses 6 (detect emotional and physical state, ranged; psychic awareness), visual and mental • 6 points 
  • Spells:  Array • 11 points 
    • Tanglevines:  Ranged burst area Affliction 6 (resisted by Dodge, overcome by Damage; hindered and vulnerable, defenseless and immobilized), extra condition, indirect 3, requires an Expertise: Magic check (DC 16, -6 points), limited degree, side effect* • 3 points
    • Ice Passage:  Movement 2 (permeate 2), limited to ice and snow • 1 point
    • Wheel of Workings:  Perception ranged Summon Animated Object 6, requires an Expertise: Magic (DC 13, -3 points), limited to available objects, side effect* • 1 point
    • Third Wheel of Weyan:  Deflect 12, reflect, move action to activate, requires an Expertise: Magic check (DC 13, -3 points), side effect* • 1 point
    • Power Mimicry:  Variable (powers possessed by catalyst) 4, standard action to activate, requires an Expertise: Magic check (DC 21, -11 points), limited to objects connected to catalysts, side effect* • 1 point
    • Green Network:  Remote Sensing 5 (visual, auditory, tactile), requires an Expertise: Magic check (DC 12, -2 points), medium (plants), side effect* • 1 point
    • Plant Growth: Create Plants 8, permanent, requires an Expertise: Magic check (DC 11, -1 points), side effect* • 1 point
    • Warp Wood:  Transform 10 (wooden objects into different shapes), requires an Expertise: Magic check (DC 12, -2 points), side effect*  • 1 point
    • Fearsome Presence:  Perception (visual) area Affliction 1 (resisted and overcome by Will; impaired, disabled, paralyzed), subtle, requires an Intimidation check (DC 11, -1 point) • 1 point
Staff:  11-point device, easily removable (-4 points) • 7 points
  • Banging:  Strength-based Damage 2 • 2 points 
  • Cantrips:  Feature 2 (heal plants, make flowers bloom) • 2 points 
  • Spells: Array • 9 points 
    • Cure: Healing 6, limited to disease and poison • 6 points
    • Holy Hearth: Burst area progressive Affliction 3 (resisted and overcome by Will; entranced, compelled, controlled), limited to evil creatures, limited to holding at bay • 1 point
    • Holy Hosts: Nullify Magic 3, broad • 1 point
    • First Wheel of Weyan:  Ranged Transform 7 (broken objects into repaired objects), requires an Expertise: Magic check (DC 13, -3 points), side effect* • 1 point
Advantages
Animal Empathy, Equipment 3 (headquarters), Extraordinary Effort, Favored Environment (arctic), Sidekick (Robbie Rudolfsen the Flying Reindeer) 9
Skills
Expertise: Magic 7 (+8), Expertise: Music 7 (+8), Insight 4 (+15), Intimidation 2 (+7), Treatment 4 (+5)
Offense
Initiative +3
Unarmed -1, close, Damage -1
Baton -1, close, Damage 2
Staff -1, close, Damage 2
Ranged Spells -2, ranged, various
Close Spells -1, close, various
Defense
Fortitude -1
Dodge +1
Parry -1
Toughness +3
Will +10

*  Should these powers fail to affect their target (failed attack or activation rolls, successful resistance roll), add the degrees of failure on all attack/activation rolls to the degrees of success on the target's resistance roll and apply an appropriate side effect as described below.  These side effects are cumulative.  This is worth a reduction in cost of 2 points per rank.
  • One degree:  The spirits are unhappy about how they are being treated and require additional ritual practices to appease them. (complication: responsibility)
  • Two degrees:  The Witch in the Wind loses access to their magicks as the spirits refuse to aid them, until the Witch does something significant to repair the relationship. (complication: power loss)
  • Three degrees:  The Witch in the Wind suffers Damage at a rank equal to that of the original effect as the spirits vent their anger on the Witch's body, both physical and spiritual.  This Damage ignores any defenses other than the Witch's innate Stamina.
  • Four or more degrees:  The spirits riot, laying waste to the area around the Witch in the Wind. (complication: accident)

Abilities -4 + Powers 142 + Advantages 15 + Skills 12 = 165 points

Robbie Rudolfsen
PC PL 3 / NPC PL 3
STR 0 [4]  STA 0 [4]  AGLDEX –4
FGTINT –2  AWEPRE –1
Powers
Ferocious Charge:  Strength-based Damage 2, limited to while charging • 1 point
Large:  Growth 4 (Permanent, Innate) • 9 points
Magical Flight:  Flight 12 (8000 mph), subtle, 7 levels have tiring • 18 points
Powerful Legs:  Speed 3 (16 MPH) • 3 points
Skills
Expertise: Magic 12 (+10), Expertise: Traditional Wisdom & History 12 (+10), Insight 8 (+9), Perception 4 (+6)
Offense
Initiative +0
Attack +0, close, Damage 4
Ferocious Charge +0, close, Damage 6
Defense
Dodge +2
Parry +2
Fortitude +4
Toughness +4
Will 0

Abilities –12 + Powers 31 + Advantages 0 + Skills 2 + Defenses 8 = Total 29 points

The Snowman
PC PL 13 (195) / NPC PL  / MR 13 / SR 39
STRAGIFGTAWE 0
STA --  DEXINTPRE 0
Powers
Advanced Sensor Suite:  Senses 41 • 41 points
  • Hearing:  accurate 2; analytical 1; rapid; ultra-hearing
  • Smell:  acute 1; rapid
  • Taste:  acute 1; rapid
  • Touch:  rapid
  • Vision: danger sense; infravision; microscopic vision 4; penetrates concealment; rapid
  • Chemical analysis:  detect chemical compounds, acute, analytical 1
  • Electromagnetosensor subsuite:  ranged detect electricity, acute 1; detect magnetic fields, radius, acute 1, analytical 1, accurate 2; magnetic radar ranged detect objects, accurate, radius
  • Geiger counter:  ranged detect radiation
  • Radio:  accurate 2
Artificial Life:  Immunity 30 (Fortitude effects) 30 points 
Hyper-Adaptive Wireless Interface:  Array 20 points
  • Perception ranged cumulative Affliction 8 (controlled; resisted by fortitude, overcome by skill or Fortitude), limited to third degree only, affects objects only, limited to technology 16 points
  • Radio Communication 4 1 point
  • Comprehend Machines 2 1 point
  • Feature 1 (remote) 1 point
  • Remote Sensing 8 (visual and auditory), medium (technological sensors) 1 point
Hyper-Advanced Semirandomly Dynamic Neural Net:  Enhanced Advantage (Eidetic Memory); Feature 2 (internal compass, wireless data storage); Immunity 10 (mental powers); Quickness 4, limited to mental tasks • 17 points
Made of Snow:  Concealment 2 (infravision); Feature 1 (generate small amounts of ice/snow); Immunity 30 (cold effects, water effects, weather effects); Movement 1 (environmental adaptation: weather) • 37 points
Alternate Forms:  Array 19 points
  • Blizzard Form:  Flight 4; Insubstantial 2; burst area Weaken Electronics 1 (electromagnetic pulse), affects only objects, broad, simultaneous; Environment 1 (intense cold, extreme visibility) 25 points  
  • Snowman Form:  Strength-based Damage 13 (snowball punch); Feature 6 (charge electronics, defibrillator, jump-start, mental strength, spot-wielding, turn without turning); close Move Object 12, limited to flinging targets away, linked to Strength Damage 1 point
Advantages
Equipment 3 (headquarters), Fascinate (Expertise: Storytelling), Favored Environment (arctic), Languages (English)
Skills
Close Combat: Snowball Punch 2, Expertise: Storytelling 3 (+9),  Technology 7 (+13), Vehicles 2 (+2)
Offense
Initiative +2
Snowball Punch +2, close, Damage 13
Defense
Fortitude Immune
Dodge +2
Parry 0
Toughness 0
Will 0

Abilities 4 + Powers 164 + Advantages 6 + Skills 6 = 180

Ancient Magical Cave Complex
PL 10
Location
Northern Sápmi in Norway
Size
Huge
Effects
Environment 11 (extreme cold, -2 ranks movement, 5 perception)
Immunity 10 (magical attacks, Teleport effects), affects others
Impervious Toughness 10
Features
Communications, Computer, Concealed, Grounds (Awesome+), Dock, Effect (Immunity), Effect (Impervious), Effect (Environment) x3, Fire Prevention System, Habitat, Isolated, Laboratory, Library, Living Space, Power System, Security System (magical), Trophy Room, Workshop
DefenseToughness 10

Size 3 + Features 22 + Toughness 2 = 27 points out of 55 points

The Ice Floe
Huge water vehicle
STR 10
Features
Autopilot 1, Communications 2, Computer
Powers
Protective Spirits:  Immunity 5 (magical attacks) 5 points 

Boat:  Swimming 8 (500 mph), quirk: surface only 7 points 

Defense
Defense 8
Toughness 9

Size 2 + Strength 2 + Features 4 + Powers 12 + Toughness 0 + Defense 8 = 28 points

Half-Martian Template
PC PL 2 / NPC PL 6 / MR 2 / SR 6
STR -1  INT 9
Advantages
Assessment, Beginner's Luck, Jack-of-all-Trades, Second Chance (Deception effects), Second Chance (Intimidation effects), Second Chance (Persuasion effects), Skill Mastery (Technology), Well-Informed
Skills
Expertise: Science 4, Expertise: Tactics 4, Technology 4
Complications
Weakness:  Disease-related effects have their degree of effect increased by 1 when affecting a half-Martian.

Abilities 16 + Powers 0 + Advantages 8 + Skills 6 + Defense 0 = 30 points

Elf Template
PC PL 3 / NPC PL 1 / MR 3 / SR 8
AGIDEXFGT -2
Powers
Giftmaker:  Comprehend 2 (objects); permanent Create 2, innate, precise, subtle; Quickness 2 • 13 points
North Pole Native:  Immunity 1 (cold environments) • 1 point
Elf:  Movement 1 (trackless); Shrinking 5, permanent, innate • 8 points
Advantages
Artificer, Favored Environment (arctic), Great Endurance, Improvised Tools, Inventor, Teamwork
Skills
Expertise: Magic 2, Expertise: Toymaking 3, Sleight of Hand 1, Technology 2

Abilities 4 + Powers 22 + Advantages 6 + Skills 4 = 36 points

Flying Reindeer
PC PL 3 / NPC PL 3 / MR 2 / SR 6
STR 0 [4]  STA 0 [4]  AGLDEX –4
FGTINT –2  AWEPRE –1
Powers
Ferocious Charge:  Strength-based Damage 2, limited to while charging • 1 point 
Large:  Growth 4 (Permanent, Innate) • 9 points
Magical Flight:  Flight 12 (8000 mph), subtle, 7 levels have tiring • 18 points
Powerful Legs:  Speed 3 (16 MPH) • 3 points 
Skills
Perception 4 (+4)
Offense
Initiative +0
Attack +0, close, Damage 4
Ferocious Charge +0, close, Damage 6
Defense
Dodge +2
Parry 2
Fortitude 4
Toughness 4
Will 0

Abilities –12 + Powers 31 + Advantages 0 + Skills 2 + Defenses 8 = Total 29 points

Martian Template
PC PL 4 / NPC PL 8 / MR 4 / SR 12
STR -1  INT 11
Powers
Long-Lived:  Immunity 1 (aging), innate • 2 points
Martian Native:  Movement 1 (environmental adaptation: low-gravity), innate; Senses 3 (visual: direction sense, distance sense, low-light vision), innate • 7 points
Powerful Mind:  Enhanced Will +6, impervious • 12 points
Advantages
Assessment, Beginner's Luck, Eidetic Memory, Fearless, Jack-of-all-Trades, Second Chance (Deception effects), Second Chance (Intimidation effects), Second Chance (Persuasion effects), Skill Mastery (Technology), Ultimate Effort (Expertise: Science), Ultimate Effort (Expertise: Tactics), Ultimate Effort (Technology), Well-Informed
Skills
Expertise: Science 4, Expertise: Tactics 4, Technology 4
Complications
Weakness:  Disease-related effects have their degree of effect increased by 2 when affecting a Martian.

Abilities 20 + Powers 21 + Advantages 13 + Skills 6 + Defense 0 = 60 points

Tuesday, December 25, 2018

Digging into the details of the moon's tech (Traveller Tuesday #27)

We determined that the low common technology level on Amon Assemon is TL 8, but what about the lower end?  We start with that high common TL of 8, add 1 for the lack of crowds to help anyone out and then immediately take it away because the discordant nature of Assemonite society makes it harder for these qweens to share information and knowledge and gadgets and gizmos.  Finally, there’s a chart to roll on to account for the various x-factors implicit in technological advancement and maintenance.  It’s a 2d6 roll, and the 9 we get is just shy of having an effect.  All told, the various things affecting Assemonite’s technological floor cancel each other out, and we determine that it’s low common TL is the same as its high common TL ~ about the level of technology we ourselves enjoy today.  Which, by the way, is late TL 7 / early TL 8 in GURPS 3rd edition terms.

Energy technology has no set modifiers, just the die roll for x-factors, so we roll 2d6 again, and get 6, so there’s no change from the high common TL.  This means the inhabitants of the Drag Moon get most of their energy by means of hyper-efficient geothermal processes, though solar energy and fuel cells are fully matured.  Nuclear fission and, moreso, petrochemicals are older technologies, nearly perfected and obsolete.

Without people to talk to or to share in your labor, computers and robotics become more important, meaning that the appropriate tech level starts out one higher than the high common tech level before we roll for x-factors, which is also as high as it can rise.  The 2d6 give us a 5, so that number stands.  A computer/robotics TL of 9 indicates that the Assemonites have access to non-volatile processors and supermassive databases accessed by means of fully natural vocal I/O.  In Traveller terms, they can build model/3 computers.  In GURPS3 terms, these computer technologies are late TL 8 / early TL 9.  I daresay much of the physical labor in those homestead mines that dot the moon is done by robots, too.  Communications technology closely follows computing technologies, so we just have to roll for x-factors, but a 6 doesn’t change anything.  Communications TL 9 includes things like computing paper (that is, computer touchscreens so thin they curl and fold like paper) and intuitive, seamless, error-free direct video communication (kinda like how Star Trek video-comms technologies are just a little bit too perfect).

This allows us to map out the less tangible resources available on Amon Assemon, as those are all based off of their communications TL.  The moon will produce recordings if I roll 4 or less on 2d6 (0 for the population, 1 for being a republic, 1 for still being technically of a moderate law level, and 2 for the technology), artforms if a 2 (0, 1, 0, 1), software 3 or less (0, 1, 1, 1), and documents on a 5 or less (-1, 1, 2, 3).  The 4 2d6 rolls are 4, 6, 6, and 6.  Well, I guess this is a moon of performers, then, sending any number of low-budget films, songs, and remixes of same out across the subsector and beyond.  I imagine that “Amon Assemon” is a catchword used to mean something like how “indie” or “artisan” or “bespoke” or “quirky” or “idiosyncratic” or just plain “weird” would be used by us.  This is the origin of artfilms and cult classics.

Time to shift gears and look at medical technologies.  We start with the computer/robotics TL of 9, leave it alone as this society is the very opposite of xenophilic, and roll that 2d6 for x-factors.  A 9 doesn’t modify it all, leaving these qweens with a medical TL of 9, giving them access to limb regeneration, cryogenics, and fast drugs (a class of drugs which dramatically reduce the user’s metabolism, cognitive speed, and motive speed, making the world appear to move faster).

Even more importantly than all that, however, is Amon Assemon’s environment technology level, seeing as the world outside would boil anyone’s body waters if it could.  We start at the high common TL (8), and add 1 each for living in such an inhospitable place.  The 2d6 roll comes up 8, so that 10 stands, or would if it could, anyway.  The maximum medical tech level is 9, so we have to reduce it to that.  That allows the moon to have fully functional arcologies (single buildings that meet their inhabitants’ every physical, social, psychological, and economic need) and orbital cities.  We also now check for the widescale terraforming of the moon.  The Assemonites will have tinkered with the moon’s atmosphere if I roll a -4 or less on 2d6 (2 for the size of the moon, -5 for its vacuumous atmosphere, -1 for its dryness, -3 for the light population, 1 for technology, and 2 for lack of native life), with its greenhouse on a 0 or less (2, -5, 1, -2, 2, 2), and its albedo on 1 or less (2, -5, 2, -2, 2, 2) ~ so obviously none of those have happened.  Its hydrosphere will have been modified if I roll 1 or less (2, -4, 0, -2, 2, 3) and its terrain on a 5 or less (4, -4, 1, -2, 3, 3).  There’s only one 2d6 roll I need to make, and I make a 5 with it, so the Assemonites have engaged in large-scale transformation of the shape of their moon’s surface to make it more inhabitable.  Similarly, if I roll less than a 4 (the moon’s population) on 2d6, they will practice weather control, whatever that means without any air.  Rolling a 12 means I don’t have to worry about what it means, as the dice have said HELL NO!

Friday, December 21, 2018

Float Upon the Sea of Time skill and moonbeam blades (Fantasy Friday #27)

Float upon the Sea of Time (Cha) 
At a moment’s notice, you can align yourself with the Eternal Now, the All of Time in its circularity, to help you recover from injuries, gain special insights, or perform other remarkable acts.  You must have the Temporal Sensitivity feat to gain ranks in this skill.

Activate Time Power (Trained Only):  You make a Float upon the Sea of Time check to use a Time power.  This use of the skill requires no action.

Breath Control (Trained Only):  You can slow Time’s consumption of the air in your lungs to help you hold your breath for an extended period of time.  A successful DC 15 Float upon the Sea of Time check allows you to hold your breath for a number of rounds equal to four times your Constitution score before having to succeed on Constitution checks to continue to hold your breath.

Meditate on the All of Time (Trained Only):  As a full-round action, you can meditate on the All of Time with a DC 15 Float upon the Sea of Time check.  In this state, you remain fully aware of your surroundings.  Each hour you remain in this trance, you regain a number of hit points equal to your character level as if from a day of natural healing.  You can emerge from the trance as a swift action.  If you remain in a Time trance for 4 consecutive hours, you emerge from the trance fully rested (as though you’ve rested for 8 hours), though this does not restore things like prepared spells or spells per day.  While you’re in a Time trance, you can go ten times as long as normal without food or water.  As a full-round action, you can place an adjacent willing ally that you touch into the same meditation on the All of Time with a DC 20 Float upon the Sea of Time check.  In this state, the target ally rests as though in a deep coma and is considered helpless.  Each hour the target remains in the meditation, the target regains a number of hit points equal to its character level, as if from a day of natural healing.  You can bring an adjacent ally you touch out of the meditation as a swift action, but the target cannot otherwise come out of the meditation on their own.  If the target remains in the meditation for 4 consecutive hours, the target emerges from the meditation fully rested (as though having rested for 8 hours), though this doesn’t allow them to re-prepare spells and the like.  While the target ally is in the meditation, it can go ten times as long as normal without air, food, or water.  Unwilling targets cannot be placed in the meditation.

Move Light Object (Trained Only):  As a move action, you can use your position at the center and circumference of Time’s circle to telekinetically lift and move a relatively light object within your line of sight.  A successful DC 15 Float upon the Sea of Time check allows you to move an object weighing up to 10 pounds a distance of 30 feet in any direction.  As a standard action, you can use the object as a projectile weapon.  If your Float upon the Sea of Time check beats the target’s AC, the object hits and deals 1d6 points of bludgeoning damage.  Using an object as a projectile weapon is otherwise treated as a ranged attack for the purposes of talents and feats that interact with ranged attacks.  You can use this application of the skill to catch and move a thrown weapon, such as bombs, that lands within your reach.  The object can weigh no more than 3 pounds.  You must ready an action to catch the object on your turn, before the object is thrown.  Moving the object requires a Float upon the Sea of Time check, with a DC equal to the attack roll of the thrown weapon.  If you succeed on this check, you catch the object by means of its movement through Time and can immediately move the object up to 30 feet away from you; otherwise, resolve the attack as normal.  If the object you caught is an explosive, like a bomb, it explodes at the end of its movement.  You can use the object caught as a projectile weapon, as normal.

Search Your Feelings:  As a full-round action, you can make a DC 20 Float upon the Sea of Time check to determine whether a particular action will yield favorable or unfavorable results to you in the immediate future (10 minutes or less).  For example, you can make the check to determine whether destroying a Fated artifact will have immediate unforeseen repercussions.  The answer does not take into account the long-term consequences of a contemplated action.  Using the above example, a successful check would not portend a future encounter with vengeful Tosj angered by the destruction of the Fated artifact.  (The GM must assess the immediate consequences of the action, based on what he knows about the circumstances.)

Sense Pivots in Time (Trained Only):  You automatically sense pivots in Time.  A location that has a strong and active Fate can be sensed out to a range of 1 mile.  A relative, companion, or close friend in mortal danger or great pain can be sensed out to a range of 1000 miles.  A great disturbance, such as the destruction of an entire city or the distress of a whole order of allies, can be sensed anywhere, as long as you haven’t departed the world for one of the Spirit Realms.  As a full-round action, you can make a DC 20 Float upon the Sea of Time check to determine the distance and general direction to the location of the disturbance.  As a full-round action, you can use this ability to actively sense other people with ranks in Float upon the Sea of Time or with the Temporal Training feat out to a range of 100 miles.  If you succeed on a DC 20 Float upon the Sea of Time check, you know how many such people are within range, their approximate distance and direction from you, and whether you’ve met them before or not.  If such a character wishes, they can try to conceal their presence from you by making an opposed Float upon the Sea of Time check.  If they equal or exceed your Float upon the Sea of Time check, you don’t sense their presence at all.  You can also specify that you are attempting to sense only Time-floaters with a Fate Score of 1 or higher; success reveals only those Time-floaters with Fate scores, and not any other Time-floaters.

Sense Surroundings:  As a swift action, you can make a DC 20 Float upon the Sea of Time check to ignore the effects of cover and concealment when making Perception checks to detect or observe targets until the start of your next turn.  Increase  the DC by 5 if this ability is used against targets with total cover.

Telepathy:  As a standard action, you can establish a telepathic link with a distant creature.  Through the link, you can exchange emotions or a single thought, such as “Go!”, “Help!”, or “Danger!”  The target must have an Intelligence of 2 or higher, and the distance between you and the target determines the DC (same city 20, same country 25, same continent 30, different continent 35).  Against an unwilling target, you must make a Float upon the Sea of Time check opposed by the opponent’s Will save that also meets or exceeds the base skill DC; if the check fails, you cannot establish a telepathic link or attempt to telepathically contact the target for 24 hours unless the target becomes a willing one.

Special:  You can’t make Float upon the Sea of Time checks unless you have the Temporal Sensitivity feat.  You can take 10 on a Float upon the Sea of Time check, but you can’t take 20.

Moonbeam blade:  Cost 300 gp; Dmg (S) 2d4; Dmg (M) 2d6; Critical x4; Range –; Weight 2 pounds; Type Slashing and fire; Ignores up to 10 point of hardness when striking objects

Tuesday, December 18, 2018

The physicality of the Drag Moon is sadly pedestrian (Traveller Tuesday #26)

A 7 on 2d6 and 3 on 2d6-2 give Amon Assemon a beautifully Discordian axial tilt of 23º, while another 2d6 roll comes up 3 for a perfectly circular orbit with no orbital eccentricity.  The last step for the solid attributes of the Drag Moon (for now) is to determine its seismic stress factor, which is a completely abstract number indicating how rough the continental mosh pit is.  Or, rather, we won’t, cuz I’m not sure what to do with one of the terms, which is a sum of various numbers based on the diameters of each of the world’s satellites.  Does anyone know how I would modify the formula to figure out a satellite’s seismic stress factor?  Asking for a friend . . .

Without an atmosphere, there is no atmospheric composition, duh.  We skip that step, and also skip figuring out the atmospheric pressure.  There’s no pressure at all (oh, what a life!)  Finally, we get around to figuring out Amon Assemon’s hydrographic percentage, which is fairly easy, as Size 0 objects simply don’t have the size to attract and hold onto much water, receiving an automatic 0 in its bUWP.

With that, we can get back to Assemonite technology.  Again, we start with 1d6, which gives us 3.  A Class E Starport adds nothing, while the moon’s size adds 2, for a subtotal of 5.  A lack of an atmosphere pulls that up to 6, and the same for its absent water (new subtotal: 7).  Without a lot of other people to help you meet your needs, you have to rely on technology to do so, which adds another technology level, for an 8.  Representative democracies provide no especial benefit or retardant to technology, so that 8 stands as Amon Assemon’s high common technology level.  That’s about . . . equivalent to the modern era, actually.  This moon looks more and more like a dystopian version of my own memories of the queer commune in Oregon!  I’m kind of amazed.

The next step would be determining Amon Assemon’s natural resources and products, but that is affected by the presence of native life, so I go back to the moon’s physical characteristics to determine its chances of life.  First step is its energy absorption, which is a cross-refernce of no atmosphere, no surface water, and relative orbital distance.  Looking at the charts, we come up with an energy absorption of 0.9, while the lack of air gives it a greenhouse effect of 1 (it’s an abstract number used in the math, like the energy absorption ~ they’re essentially 90% and 100%, respectively).  These allow us to calculate a base temperature for the moon, which is as far as we will get on moonly temperature.  I’ve another question for a friend: anyone here worked out how to make the temperature worksheet function properly for a moon?

Anyway, the combined luminosity of the Bishop Scheumack binary system is (checking the previous post . . .) 0.506 and its orbital factor is 836.345, which get multiplied with each other, the moon’s energy absorption, and its greenhouse effect.  0.506 x 836.345 x 0.9 x 1 = 380.871513 Kelvins, from which we subtract 273 to get it in degrees Celsius.  Amon Assemon’s base temperature is thus 107.871513º C, which is the same as 226.1687234º F.  Just a bit above boiling, huh?  Let’s hope they’ve got good shielding on their mines and farms!

We’ll skip the rest of the temperature calculations, because again, I have no idea how to apply them to a moon.  Native life will exist on the moon if I roll a 10 or more on 2d6, except that having no air makes that 13 or more, no water 15 or more, and boiling temperatures 16 or more.  Not even α Bishop Scheumack being a K-type star helps enough ~ I would need to roll a 15 or more on 2d6.  Amon Assemon, like many moons, is hereby declared an actual terra nullius, with no life (as opposed to the bullshit, racist-colonialist concept of terra nullius).

Now we can work out Amon Assemon’s economy.  Significant agricultural resources aren’t present on the Drag Moon, as I would have to roll a 0 or less on 2d6 (4 for its molten core, -3 for no atmosphere, 0 for population, -1 for tech level, 0 for lack of native life).  Ores, on the other hand, need an 8 or less (7 for molten core, 1 for lack of air, and 0 for population, tech, and life), while radioactives show up on 6 or less (5 for core, 1 for atmosphere, and 0 for everything else), crystals 5 or less (5, 0, 0, 0, and 0), and compounds 6 or less (6, 1, 0, 0, -1).  I obviously don’t roll for agricultural resources, but the four roll 7, 4, 9, and 8.  Accordingly, the qweens on this moon have ample ores and radioactives for them to mine.  OK, so forget widespread Tattooine-style moisture farms.  The moon’s surface and composition simply can’t support them, sadly.  This is a pseudo-Wild West built on mining, more Gold Rush than cattle-rustling.

One step from raw, natural resources are processed resources.  Amon Assemon will produce agroproducts if I roll 3 or less on 2d6 (1 for the core, 0 for the atmosphere, 1 for people, 1 for tech, and 0 for life), metals on a 4 or less (0, 1, -1, 4, 0), and non-metals on a 5 or less (0, 1, 0, 4, 0).  That calls for 3 rolls of 2d6, and the resultant 4, 9, and 6, which means the moon produces no processed resources, instead just shipping its ores and radioactives raw.  But do they manufacture anything here?  It’d be kind of rad if they did, base don what we’ve already determined of their aesthetics.  Let’s see, parts will be manufactured here on a 3 or less (1 for atmosphere, -1 for people, 1 for a republic, 2 for tech, and 0 for life), durables on 3 or less (1, -1, 1, 2, 0), consumables on 3 or less (1, -1, 1, 2, 0), and weapons on a 2 (1, -1, 1, 1, 0).  The rolls are 6, 8, 7, and 4.  There aren’t any major manufacturing plants on the Drag Moon, just those mines.  That all means that Amon Assemon is probably pretty poor, sadly.

Friday, December 14, 2018

Temporal feats (Fantasy Friday #26)

And, just to be thorough, the list of Time Powers made available by the Temporal Sensitivity feat (again, I don’t think I’m up to converting them all at once; also, the names are provisional until I dig deeper into the individual powers):
Assured Strike
Ballistakinesis
Barrier of Blades
Battle Strike
Blind
Circle of Shelter
Cloak
Combustion
Contentious Opportunity
Convection
Corruption
Crucitorn
Cryokinesis
Deflecting Slash
Detonate
Disarming Slash
Draw Closer
Energy Resistance
Enlighten
Falling Avalanche
Farseeing
Fated Transfer
Fateful Rage
Fear
Fluid Riposte
Fold Space
Hatred
Hawk-Bat Swoop
High Ground Defense
Inertia
Inspire
Intercept
Kinetic Combat
Leletjo Riposte (Makashi Riposte)
Levitate
Lightning Burst
Liqebgsi (Morichro)
Lykybey (Malacia)
Memory Walk
Mind Shard
Mind Trick
Move Object
Obscure
Pass the Blade
Phase
Plant Surge
Prescience
Pushing Slash
Rebuke
Rend
Repulse
Resist the Flow
Reskebb Sweep (Sarlacc Sweep)
Rising Whirlwind
Saber Swarm
Sever Time
Shatterpoint
Slow
Stagger
Surge
Swift Flank
Tempered Aggression
Temporal Disarm
Temporal Grip
Temporal Light
Temporal Scream
Temporal Slam
Temporal Storm
Temporal Stun
Temporal Track
Thought Bomb
Time Blast
Time Lightning
Time Shield
Time Thrust
Time Tornado
Tusmrls’s Ferocity (Vornskr’s Ferocity)
Tjeim Deflection (Shien Deflection)
Twin Strike
Unbalancing Block
Unhindered Charge
Valor
Vital Transfer
Wound

And the list of flow regimens available:
Awaken Temporal Sensitivity
Breath Bottle
Eyes of the Now
Quiet the Mind
Shadowfighting
Sparring Practice
Telekinetic Practice
Ti’qam’s First Cadence
Ti’qam’s Second Cadence
Ti’qam’s Third Cadence
Ti’qam’s Fourth Cadence
Ti’qam’s Fifth Cadence

All History is a Moment (General)
Prerequisite:  Temporal Sensitivity
Benefit:  You can spend Time points as a free action, even if it is not your turn.  All other restrictions to Time point use still apply.
Normal:  Unless otherwise specified, you can spend Time points only on your turn, preventing you from enhancing attacks and skill checks made as reactions.

Always Flowing (General)
Benefit:  You gain two more Time points, and you rmaximum number of Time points increases by two.

Center of the Circle (General)
Prerequisite:  Strong Flow
Benefit: When you spend a Time point to adjust the result of an attack roll, skill check, or ability check, you roll 1d8 rather than 1d6.

Circular Certainty (General)
Prerequisite:  Float upon the Sea of Time 8 ranks
Benefit:  When you spend a Time point to adjust the result of an attack roll, skill check, or ability check, roll twice and take the highest die result.

Flow Regimen Mastery
Prerequisites:  Float upon the Sea of Time 1 rank, Temporal Sensitivity
Benefit:  You learn a number of flow regimens equal to 1 + your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1).
Special:  You can take this feat more than once.  Each time you take this feat, you learn a number of additional flow regimens equal to 1 + your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1).  If your Wisdom modifier permanently increases, you immediately gain a number of flow regimens equal to the number of flow regimen mastery feats you have taken.

It Has Already Happened (General)
Prerequisite:  Circular Certainty, Float upon the Sea of Time 15 ranks.
Benefit:  When you spend a Time point to adjust the result of an attack roll, skill check, or ability check, roll three times and take the highest die result.

Skill Training (General)
Benefit:  This functions as Hermean Blood, but can be taken by Haćo at any level.
Normal:  Hermean Blood can only be taken at first level, but by any character.

Strong Flow (General)
Benefit: When you spend a Time point to adjust the result of an attack roll, skill check, or ability check, you roll 1d6 rather than 1d4.

Temporal Sensitivity (General)
Benefit:  At the start of the day, you gain 1 Time point, though throughout the day you can gain Time points up to a maximum of your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1) in either of two ways.  Each time the Time-sensitive confirms a critical hit with a moonbeam blade, she regains 1 Time point. Confirming a critical hit on a helpless or unaware creature or a creature that has fewer Hit Dice than half the Time-sensitive’s character level doesn’t restore Time points.  When the Time-sensitive reduces a creature to 0 or fewer hit points with a moonbeam blade attack while in combat, she regains 1 Time point. Destroying an unattended object, reducing a helpless or unaware creature to 0 or fewer hit points, or reducing a creature that has fewer Hit Dice than half the Time-sensitive’s character level to 0 or fewer hit points doesn’t restore any Time points.
This allows you to make Float upon the Sea of Time checks and can expend one Time point as a free action to add 1d4 to the result of an attack roll, ability check or any skill check other than Float upon the Sea of Time checks, as long as you are trained in that skill (even if you take 10 or 20 on that check). You make this choice after the check is rolled and before the results of the roll are revealed. You can use only one Time point per skill check.  You can also spend a Time point to avoid death and fall unconscious instead, or to lower your Fate Score by 1.
In addition, at every odd level, you have the option of selecting a temporal or temporal tradition talent instead of one of the class features you would normally gain (you can sacrifice a level of spellcasting in this way).  You must met the prerequisites of the temporal or temporal tradition talent to select it.
Normal:  You can’t make Float upon the Sea of Time checks or select temporal or temporal tradition talents unless you have this feat.

Temporal Training (General)
Prerequisites:  Float upon the Sea of Time 1 rank, Temporal Sensitivity
Benefit:  You add to your Time power suite a number of Time powers equal to 1 + your Intelligence modifier (minimum 1).  You can add the same power more than once.  When your character uses a Time power, it’s like playing a card and putting it in a discard pile.  The power takes effect, and it’s no longer available to the character . . . at least for a while.  You have different ways to regain spent Time powers so that you can use them again:
--When combat is over and you have a chance to rest for 1 minute, you regain all of your Time powers.
-–If you roll a natural 20 on a Float upon the Sea of Time check to activate a Time power, you regain all spent Time powers at the end of your turn.
--You may spend 1 Time point as a reaction to return a single spent Time power to your active suite of Time powers.
--Some unique abilities allow you to regain spent Time powers in other ways.
Special:  You can take this feat more than once.  Each time you take this feat, you add to your Time suite a number of new Time powers equal to 1 + your Intelligence modifier.  If your Intelligence modifier permanently increases, you immediately gain a number of Time powers equal to the number of Temporal Training feats you have taken.

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Amon Assemon and the greater universe (Traveller Tuesday #25)

Now that we’ve got a nearly-complete image of Assemonite society, we can start to explore how they connect to the rest of the system and the rest of the universe.  Here again, we apply a progressive negative DM the further we get from the mainworld so as to achieve a crowded solar system while preserving the importance of the mainworld.  That makes this a 2d6-1 roll, which is a 3.  It’s pretty clear that the qweens of the Drag Moon have set it up as a separatist space, that they have retreated from the rest of the system as a way of building safe space (remember I said I had met some queer fascists in my life?  They usually ended up in fascism by proceeding from a misinterpretation of separatism) and to focus on their unique culture separate from the effects of living surrounded by people who are fundamentally different.  Why is that clear? Because that 3 indicates a Class E Starport ~ the lowest class at which an installation can be called a Starport.

The good news is that means there’s no cost to berth here!  But there’s also no chance to buy any of the drug mixture used by the biological components of the noetic drive to engage the Casey Jones Effect and achieve FTL.  Nor is there an opportunity to get your ship repaired at all.  What there is is a tiny chance that space pirates have taken up here and created a secret base.  2D6 have to roll 12 in order for that to be the case, and we get . . . a 7 :-(  I was kind of hoping for that to work out, too, cuz queer space pirates in extravagant outfits sounds hella cute.

We do roll an 11, however, on an unmodified 2d6 roll to determine the planet’s global extensiveness, which means that it is discordant.  In addition to it housing a population long famous for its strong opinions on politics, fashion, and damn near everything else, it seems likely that the Assemonite Twin Party isn’t the only one to have noticed the slow creep of fascism on the moon ~ others did and had quite a few different opinions about it, from the positive to the negative to the shady to the humorous to the bizarre.  Add in the religious divisions which seem to simmer beneath a veneer of shared vagaries of faith, and you get a culture that maintains its unity but argues within itself constantly.

As for its interstellar extensiveness, that 2d6 roll gets a +2 DM for its starport and another +2 for being conservative.  10+4 is 14, so, yep, definitely fascistic ~ that’s a strongly xenophobic result.  Amon Assemon is not terribly welcoming to outsiders.  Queer outsiders, at least, will be recognized as potential neighbors, even if it will take them years to earn a place in the community.  Another 2d6 roll comes up 2, showing that the law is enforced based on personal whim here on this moon.  Considering the various influences I’m pulling on for its culture, I’d say that this looks like a combination of the country/Wild West sheriff whose interpretation of the law is more important than the letter, and the famous tendency of fascist governments to foster individual abuses of power by people at all levels of government.

And that brings us to Amon Assemon’s technology level.  We start with 1d6, which means we start with  ~ actually, we don’t start with anything yet, because a world’s technology is partially dependent on its physical characteristics, which we haven’t determined yet.  We've already determined its diameter ~ 1280 km ~ when we worked out Ishee's seismic stress factor.  In order to determine its atmosphere, we roll 2d6-7 to get 0.  Amon Assemon, completely unshockingly, lacks any atmosphere whatsoever.  Size and atmosphere conspire to make the roll for the moon’s type a 2d6+2.  An 8 gives us a molten core, and a follow-up 3d6 roll of 15 means that Amon Assemon is just a bit denser than Earth, 1.06 times as dense, to be exact.

Now we start the math.  Size 0 is treated as 0.6 for these calculations.  0.6 divided by 8 is 0.075, which gets cubed into 0.000421875.  We multiply that by the density we just determined, for a final Assemonite mass of 0.0004471875 Earths.  As heavy as it is, it’s still tinytiny.  Calculating the gravity of the moon starts with squaring 0.6 (for size), which is obviously 0.36.  We then divide 64 by that, which results in 177.7777777777777778, and that is finally multiplied by the moon’s mass.  Ultimately, we figure out that Amon Assemon’s gravity is 0.0795 g (plus an infinitesimal tiny bit more after another 16 zeroes).  I would weigh about 14 pounds there, which is weird to consider, actually.

The amount of time it takes Amon Assemon to orbit Ishee (an Assemonite month) involves some big numbers, which is annoying.  The first step is to take its distance from Ishee in kilometers, which means I have to go back and check an older post, and divide it by 400,000.  16,720/400,000 is 0.0418, which is then cubed into 0.000073034632 and then multipled by 2793.64.  The resultant 0.20403246934048 is divided by Ishee’s mass, which I have to go back and check again.  Ishee is 0.0153125 Earth-masses, which means the penultimate step of this calculation turns out to be 13.32456942631706122.  Finally, we take the square root of that, and the result is the length of an Assemonite month.  Amon Assemon takes 3 Earth-days, 15 hours, 36 minutes, and about 24.5 seconds to orbit Ishee.

Its rotation is much easier to determine.  We start with that distance from Ishee divided by 400,000, which we’ve already determined.  It’s 0.0418, and we divide Ishee’s mass of 0.0153125 by that number, which comes out to be 0.3663277511961722.  We add 5 and then we roll (2d6-2)x4 ~ it’s 32 ~ and add that in, too, for a total rotational period (“day”) of 37.3663277511961722.  Which is less than 40, so we take it as done ~ Amon Assemon rotates one full rotation in 37 Earthdays, 8 hours, 47 minutes, and almost 30.75 seconds.  That’s like 12 times as long as it takes to circle Ishee!

Friday, December 7, 2018

Haćo character class (Fantasy Friday #25)

We’ve of course determined the class for this quissian ~ they’re gonna be a Haćo!  I really enjoyed the SAGA edition ~ the second version of a Star Wars d20 that Wizards of the Coast made back in the day.  It’s also very much a 3.75e, much like Pathfinder is, and although you can see the seeds of 4th edition within it (just like with 2.5e, a.k.a. Skills & Powers, and its inclusion of bits of 3e), it avoids much of what I didn’t have a taste for in that edition.

Googling for conversions from SAGA to Pathfinder turns up not much more than people talking about how difficult it is and suggesting other systems or creating a Jedi anew, usually as an archetype.  I don’t wanna make Haćo an archetype of anything, as that inverts the historical sequence.  In my setting, things like the monk class and psychic magic developed out of the teachings of the Haćo.  I also have a different philosophy around game balance than is popular in the D&D realm, one very much influenced and exemplified by the old Steve Jackson game In Nomine.  Wild variances in power level in any given area can produce interesting dynamics in setting and in play, and help players indicate what kind of stories, themes, settings, and conflicts they want to engage with to their GM.  Choosing to play a Malakite of War tells your GM that you want a very different game from your friend who chooses to play a Seraph of Judgment or a Kyriotate of Animals or a Mercurian of Destiny, to use In Nomine terms.  This communication then allows the collaborative construction of a more complex narrative in play as everyone can work to weave and entwine these themes ~ Pathfinder does a better job of any D&D I’ve explored (note: not 4e or 5e, really) of really leveraging this effect and tool.

All of that was a long-winded way of getting around to saying that my conversion of the SAGA Jedi to a Pathfinder Haćo will be a relatively direct port, without overly precise tweaking of the mechanics towards some idealized form of balance.

Haćo
Alignment: Any non-chaotic (players who want to play a chaotic take on a Haćo can take the Alys archetype, representing a sect with a somewhat more extreme take on their relationship with the flow of Time)
Hit Die: d8.
Starting Wealth: 3d4x10 gp (average 75 gp.) In addition, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.
Class Skills:  The Haćo’s class skills are Acrobatics (Dex), Craft (Int), Float upon the Sea of Time (Cha), Disable Device (Dex), Knowledge (all, taken individually) (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), Use Magical Device (Cha)
Skill Ranks per Level: 2 + Int modifier.

1st level:  BAB 0, Fort +2, Ref +2, Will +2, moonbeam blade, talent, Temporal Sensitivity
2nd level:  BAB +1, Fort +3, Ref +3, Will +3, bonus feat
3rd level:  BAB +2, Fort +3, Ref +3, Will +3, talent
4th level:  BAB +3, Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +4, bonus feat
5th level:  BAB +3, Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +4, talent
6th level:  BAB +4, Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +5, bonus feat
7th level:  BAB +5, Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +5, build moonbeam blade, talent
8th level:  BAB +6/+1, Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +6, bonus feat
9th level:  BAB +6/+1, Fort +6, Ref +6, Will +6, talent
10th level:  BAB +7/+2, Fort +7, Ref +7, Will +7, bonus feat
11th level:  BAB +8/+3, Fort +7, Ref +7, Will +7, talent
12th level:  BAB +9/+4, Fort +8, Ref +8, Will +8, bonus feat
13th level:  BAB +9/+4, Fort +8, Ref +8, Will +8, talent
14th level:  BAB +10/+5, Fort +9, Ref +9, Will +9, bonus feat
15th level:  BAB +11/+6/+1, Fort +9, Ref +9, Will +9, talent
16th level:  BAB +12/+7/+2, Fort +10, Ref +10, Will +10, bonus feat
17th level:  BAB +12/+7/+2, Fort +10, Ref +10, Will +10, talent
18th level:  BAB +13/+8/+3, Fort +11, Ref +11, Will +11, bonus feat
19th level:  BAB +14/+9/+4, Fort +11, Ref +11, Will +11, talent
20th level:  BAB +15/+10/+5, Fort +12, Ref +12, Will +12, bonus feat

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Haćo.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency:  A Haćo is proficient with all simple weapons, light armor, and moonbeam blades.
Moonbeam Blade:  You start play with a moonbeam blade provided by your master.  Later, you can build your own moonbeam blade.
Temporal Sensitivity:  A Haćo gains the Temporal Sensitivity feat, if they do not already have it.
Talents:  At 1st level and every odd-numbered level thereafter (3rd, 5th, 7th, etc.), you select a talent from an available talent tree.  You may choose a talent from any tree you wish, but you must meet the prerequisites (if any) of the chosen talent.  No talent can be selected more than once unless explicitly indicated
Bonus Feats:  At each even-numbered level (2nd, 4th, 6th, etc.), you gain a bonus feat.  This feat must be selected from this list, and you must meet any prerequisites for that feat:  All History is a Moment, Center of the Circle, Circular Certainty, Cleave, Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Cranial Adjustment, Cranial Implantation, Critical Focus, Deflect Arrows, Disorienting Maneuver, Dodge, Double Slice, Flow Regimen Mastery, Great Cleave, Greater Bull Rush, Greater Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Unarmed Strike, It Has Already Happened, Mobility, Quick Draw, Power Attack, Practiced Ritualist, Psychic Adept, Psychic Disciple, Psychic Maestro, Psychic Sensitivity, Psychic Virtuoso, Rhabdomancy, Skill Focus, Skill Training, Spectrum Sight, Spring Attack, Strong Flow, Stunning Fist, Trepanation, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (moonbeam blades).  Most Haćo take advantage of this class feature to spend a significant number of the feats they gain from gaining odd-numbered levels on Temporal Training.

I’m not going to convert whole talent trees right now, but I’ll list the options (yes, I scoured through all of the SAGA books to compile the list):
{Haćo Talent Trees}
Haćo Consular
Haćo Guardian
Haćo Sentinel
Moonbeam Blade Combat
{Temporal Talent Trees}
Alter
Control
Destiny
Fate
Guardian Spirit
Sense
{Temporal Traditions (with Star Wars equivalent)}
Believer Disciple
Blazing Chain
Cesepfu Sage (Baran Do Sage)
Cysgilese Timewitch (Dathomiri Witch)
Disciple of Twilight
Ember of Tygk (Ember of Vahl)
Golem Knight (Iron Knight)
Hyk Rgaz (Jal Shey)
Hamraatyo Defender (Jensaarai Defender)
Jaasyak (Keetael)
Jiqommye Adept (Korunnai Adept)
Koje Rama (Luka Sene)
Lsesg (Krath)
Lysojye Adept (Matukai Adept)
Order of Tjete (Order of Shasa)
Raxofe Dervish (Seyugi Dervish)
Saoy Adept (Tyia Adept)
Shaper of Lsi Tyq (Shaper of Kro Var)
Warden of the Sky
White Current Adept
Yaerim Tje Warrior (Zeison Sha Warrior)
Yemh-See Monk (Aing-Tii Monk)
Zymci Fiqe Captain (Bando Gora Captain)