GURPS: New Psionic Ability, Telekinetic Sense
ESPers aren’t the only ones with special senses. Some tekes are able to sense vibrations around themselves. Today’s post is a new sensory ability for Psychokinesis.
Telekinetic Sense
18/19/24; 16/18/23 with Multiplicative Modifiers
Skill: Telekinetic Sense (Per/Hard)
You can detect the location and size of nearby objects through psychokinetic feedback. It isn’t as good as sight or Awareness - you can detect a creature in total darkness but not any details besides a rough size and location. Your sense works through air, water and even solid objects. Wind, sound and other vibrations do not interfere with your abilitycertain anti-psionic effects or psychotronic devices can.
Make a Telekinetic Sense roll at a bonus for the target’s size and speed (See the Size and Speed/Range Table, B550). On a success, you learn the target’s size, speed, location and direction of movement. Once you detect something, you may target it with an attack. Apply any penalties to your sense from size and speed to the range (listed below) as a penalty to your attack. You may not gain a bonus if positive.
At level 1, you are at -1/yard. At level 2, use the standard range penalties (B550). At level 3, use the long-distance modifiers (B241).
Statistics: Vibration Sense (Sense of Perception, +100%; Short-Range, -10%; Psychokinesis, -10%) [18]. At level 2, remove Short Range [19]. At level 3, add Long-Range [24].
Active Sense
Hard
Default: Telekinetic Sense-8; cannot exceed Telekinetic Sense.
Instead of sensing for psychokinetic feedback passively, you can vibrate the air or water to create a sonar like effect. This reduces your perception to a 120° arc in front of you. It also makes the sense “active,” so anyone who can sense sonar can detect you at 2 x your range. This technique lets you “see” with a 1mm resolution in air or 5mm in water andlets you discern size and shape with enough percision to ignore vison penalties in combat.
You must make a Sense roll to perceive details such as faces, at ‑3 in water. This use of your ability can be fooled or jammed by loud noises.
At levels 1 and 2, your range is 10 yards (multiplied by air pressure in atmospheres) in air or 1000 yards in water. At level 3, your range doubles.
Range is 4 yards (multiplied by air pressure and 400 in water) at level 1 if using Multiplicative Modifiers.
Targeting
Hard
Skill: Telekinetic Sense-2; cannot exceed Telekinetic Sense.
You can “lock on” to anything you have already detected with an Aim maneuver to determin its precise range and speed. This also gives +3 to hit with an aimed ranged attack.
Designer Notes
This ability is straightforward. Active Sense is Sonar. Targeting is Targeting.
The material presented here is my original creation, intended for use with the GURPS system from Steve Jackson Games. This material is not official and is not endorsed by Steve Jackson Games.