Points in the Water attack. This effect is cumulative; the more Water attacks an Electricity user suffers, the weaker his powers become (perhaps with some predefined limit, like 50% effectiveness).
CONCLUSION: THE SPECIAL EFFECT: ELECTRICITY POWER MODIFIER
Electricity has more benefits than it has draw- backs. Therefore, Special Effect: Electricity consti- tutes a +10 Character Point Adder. In campaigns involving a lot of underwater adventuring, the GM may convert this to a +¼ Advantage.
EXAMPLE ELECTRICITY
POWERS
Here are some example Electricity powers:
Offensive Powers
CONDUCTIVITY CHANNELING
Effect: Indirect for any Ranged Electricity power built on up to 150 Active Points; Only Through Conductive Materials Target: Self
Duration: Instant
Range: No Range
END Cost: 7
Description: The character can control the flow of his Ranged attacks involving Electricity so that they move through conductive materials (such as a metal floor or wall) to strike the target from an unusual angle.
Game Information: Indirect (always origi-
nates from character, but can strike from any angle; +½) for any Ranged Electricity power built on up to 150 Active Points (75 Active Points); Only Through Conductive Materials (-1). Total cost: 37 points.
DIRECT CURRENT PARALYSIS
Effect: Entangle 3d6, 3 DEF, Takes No Damage From Attacks
Target: One character Duration: Constant
Range: Touch
END Cost: 7
Description: The character can touch another person and project direct current (DC) electricity into his body, causing his muscles (or wiring) to lock up and prevent him from moving. The charac- ter must maintain his touch on the victim; as soon as he lets go, the effect ends (hence the Lockout Limitation). However, as long as he maintains his touch, he keeps the Entangle at full strength (the Continuous Advantage). He gets to roll the Entan- gle dice every Phase as an action that takes no time. If his BODY roll on the dice exceeds the Entangle’s current BODY, the new, higher, BODY roll applies (note that rolls do not add together — only the highest total applies).
Game Information: Entangle 3d6, 3 DEF, Con-
tinuous (+1), Takes No Damage From Attacks (+½) (75 Active Points); No Range (-½), Lock- out (character must maintain contact with the victim with at least one hand; loss of contact immediately negates Entangle; -½), Vulnerable (electrical attacks; -1), Cannot Form Barriers (-¼), Only Versus Targets With Muscles Or Com- parative Structures (-0). Total cost: 23 points.
IONIZE
Effect: -5 DCV, Only Applies Versus Electricity, Magnetism, And Metal Attacks Target: One character
Duration: Constant Range: 185” END Cost: 4
Description: The character can electrically charge an opponent’s body, making him easier to hit with electrical, magnetic, or metal-based attacks.
This power requires the GM’s permission, since it uses the optional rules for Negative Combat Skill Levels.
Game Information: Negative Combat Skill
Levels (-5 to opponent’s DCV), Ranged (+½) (37 Active Points); Only Applies Versus Elec- tricity, Magnetism, And Metal Attacks (-½). Total cost: 25 points.
LIGHTNING BLAST
Effect: Energy Blast 9d6 Target: One character Duration: Instant
Range: 275”
END Cost: 5
Description: The character can shoot a blast of elec- tricity capable of badly injuring a normal person, stunning (and perhaps injuring) many superhu- mans, and destroying most objects.
Game Information: Energy Blast 9d6, Special
Effect: Electricity. Total cost: 55 points.
PERSONAL ELECTRIC FIELD
Effect: RKA 1½d6, Damage Shield Target: Self
Duration: Constant
Range: Touch
END Cost: 9
Description: The character can surround his body with a potent field of electrical energy that injures anyone who touches him, or whom he Grabs.
Game Information: RKA 1½d6, Special Effect:
Electricity, Continuous (+1), Damage Shield (+½). Total cost: 87 points.
Defensive Powers
ELECTRIC SHIELD
Effect: Force Field (16 PD/24 ED) Target: Self
Duration: Constant
Range: Self
END Cost: 5
Description: The character surrounds himself with a shimmering field of electrical energy which pro- tects him from attacks. It has significantly greater effect against energy attacks than physical attacks. Game Information: Force Field (16 PD/24 ED),
Special Effect: Electricity. Total cost: 50 points.
Movement Powers
RIDE THE LIGHTNING
Effect: Flight 15”, Only Along Electrical Wires Target: Self
Duration: Constant
Range: Self
END Cost: 3
Description: The character uses his control of electricity to “latch onto” the electricity in cables or wires and travel along with it. He can only fly where such cables and wires exist. This usu- ally isn’t too much of a problem in urban areas (though it may lead to some unusual flight paths), but it’s often a significant problem in rural regions or unusual locales.
Game Information: Flight 15” (30 Active
Points), Only Along Electrical Wires (-¾). Total cost: 17 points.
E
lectromagnetic energy, or more accurately electromagnetic radiation (EM radia- tion), encompasses an enormous variety of energy phenomena. Ranging from highest to lowest frequency these include electricity, radio waves, microwave radiation, infrared light, visible light, ultraviolet light, x-rays, and gamma rays. For the purposes of this book, Electricity and Light (including infrared and ultraviolet) are covered in their own sections of this chapter. This section focuses on the other types: radio waves; micro- waves; x-rays; and gamma rays.RADIO WAVES
Radio devices — whether the kind in a car stereo that can only receive, or models that both receive and transmit — use the radio spectrum, a section of the electromagnetic spectrum, to send and/or transmit communications. The radio spectrum ranges from about just a few cycles, to thousands of cycles (kilohertz), to 300 gigacycles (gigahertz). It’s divided into the following “bands,” from lowest to highest:
■ ELF (extremely low frequency): The band from about 3-30 cycles is used to transmit sig- nals to submerged submarines because those frequencies penetrate water well. However, the low frequency means messages take longer than normal to send, so they’re usually restricted to short phrases and/or codes.
■ VLF (very low frequency): From about 6,000 cycles (6 kilocycles, or kilohertz) to 30 kc. It’s used primarily for maritime communication and navigation signals.
■ LF (low frequency): From 30-300 kc. Also used primarily for maritime communication and naviga- tion signals.
■ MF (medium frequency): From 300 kc to 3 megacycles. AM broadcasting uses this band. ■ HF (high frequency): From 3-30 mc. Ham radios, CB radios, law enforcement radios, international shortwave broadcasts, most alarm systems, garage door openers, most cordless phones, walkie-talkies, baby monitors, and radio-controlled (RC) toys use this band (some versions of some of these tech- nologies use the VHF band instead).
■ VHF (very high frequency): From 30-300 mc. Most bugs (listening devices) use the VHF band, as does FM radio and most television stations. For example, FM radio is assigned the band of frequencies between 88 and 108 MHz (mega- hertz, or millions of cycles per second).
■ UHF (ultrahigh frequency): From 300 mc to 3 gigacycles. UHF television broadcasters, police repeaters, and cell phones use this band.
■ SHF (superhigh frequency): From 3-30 gc. This is a microwave band used for various high-end communications and navigation purposes, satellite transmissions, the GPS system, and the like. ■ EHF (extremely high frequency): From 30-300 gc, approaching the realm of infrared light.
Lower frequency radio waves are “ground waves,” meaning they follow the curvature of the Earth and so tend to have limited range (though shortwave signals, such as in ham radio, can go all around the world). However, they can bounce off the “Heaviside layer” in the ionosphere (“skywave”) and thus travel further, especially at night (the season and sunspot activity also affect how far a radio transmission can travel). In the upper bands used with satellite transmissions and the like, a radio broadcast can reach anywhere in the world.
The exact range of any given radio depends on its power, the size of its antenna, and other fac- tors. As a rule of thumb, assume a handheld unit (a walkie-talkie, for example) has a range of about 2-4 km, a backpack radio unit a range of 40-60 km, and a vehicle mounted radio a range of 300-500 km. At the GM’s option, a character can make a Systems Operation roll to extend this range — +10% range for every point by which the roll succeeds. If the roll fails, the character gets no range bonus; if it fails badly (by 4 or more) reduce the range by 10% per point of failure. (These range rules apply pri- marily in more “realistic” campaigns; in cinematic campaigns radios may have much longer ranges depending on the needs of the story.)
Receiving and broadcasting using radio devices is usually pretty easy; after all they’re meant for more or less public access in many ways. Inter- cepting, jamming, or tracking a radio signal may sometimes be difficult for this reason; the GM may impose modifiers of -1 or more.
MICROWAVES
Typically, microwaves are defined as elec- tromagnetic energy with frequencies ranging from 1 to 1000 GHz (gigahertz), though alter- nate definitions exist and there’s some overlap with Radio waves and infrared Light. The most common uses for microwaves are in the 1-40 GHz range. They’re well-known to modern humans because of microwave ovens, which pass microwaves through food to heat the water, fat, and sugar molecules in them. Other uses include broadcasting and communications, some radar
ELECTROMAGNETIC
ENERGY
ELECTROMAGNETIC
ENERGY
BASICS
Defense: ED Knockback: “Realisti- cally” No, but Yes in many fantastic/cin- ematic settings and genresapplications, some wireless and networking tech- nology, radio astronomy, masers (which are like lasers, but operate at microwave frequencies), long-range power transmission (at least experi- mentally), and cable television/Internet access.
X-RAYS
X-rays (or Roentgen rays, after the man gener-
ally credited with discovering them) are a form of electromagnetic radiation with frequencies rang- ing from 30 to 30,000 PHz (petahertz). They’re measured in rems. Because they can pass through solid matter and make images of it on a medium behind that matter, they’re often used for medical and dental imaging. Exposure to x-rays, which are a form of ionizing radiation, can be dangerous, though the average person is exposed to about 360 millirems of x-rays every year from various back- ground sources.
GAMMA RAYS
Famed among comic book fans for having cre- ated the Marvel Comics character the Hulk, gamma
rays (or gamma radiation) have the shortest wave-
length, and thus the highest frequency and energy, of any part of the electromagnetic spectrum. This also makes them the most dangerous; exposure to them can lead to leukemia and many other forms of cancer. People are exposed to low amounts of gamma radia- tion normally; shielding people from higher doses usually requires lots of mass (such as soil, concrete, or lead). For these purposes, 1 cm of lead = 6 cm of concrete = 9 cm of packed soil. Gamma rays are used commercially to sterilize equipment, for some types of medical imaging, and similar purposes.
CHARACTERISTICS AND SECONDARY EFFECTS
The forms of Electromagnetic Energy described above have a few characteristics in common. First, they’re invisible to the unaided human eye (though x-rays can be seen by a dark- adapted eye under experimental conditions, and when broadcast with sufficient intensity ionize the air with a white glow). In game terms this would justify buying the Invisible To Normal
Sight (+¼), since for game purposes Infrared
Perception or Ultraviolet Perception could still perceive them. Alternately, the GM might con- sider them Invisible as a default rule up to a cer- tain amount of Damage Classes or Active Points (such as 6 DCs or 30 Active Points), but visible when used in greater amounts due to ionization or the like.
Second, they all penetrate most physical barriers easily (and the higher the frequency of the Electromagnetic Energy, the better the pen- etration). The interaction notes below discuss this (largely by giving Electromagnetic Energy attacks bonuses against physical defenses), but other approaches are possible. For example, the GM might require all such attacks to be bought with the Armor Piercing, Indirect, and/or Pen-
etrating Advantages. However, it can be relatively
easy to shield one’s self against them. Conductive metal surrounding the target can block harmful EM radiation, even if it’s just a metal mesh like the ones in microwave oven doors — the mesh’s openings just have to be smaller than the radi- ation’s wavelength. At the GM’s option this may qualify the powers for a -¼ Limitation.
Third, the effects of exposure to electromagnetic radiation usually follow a spectrum based on the intensity of the energy, the length of the exposure, and similar factors. The effects result from the Electromag- netic Energy heating up tissue (i.e., depositing energy into it). From least to worst harmful, they can include the following: temporary sterility; erythema (redness of the skin, i.e., minor burning); burns (potentially very bad ones from ionizing radiation like x-rays and gamma rays, relatively mild ones from radio waves or microwaves); cataracts; permanent sterility; cancer. Obviously, in the real world most of these effects don’t manifest themselves right away; they may take days, months, or years to show themselves. In a fictional set- ting involving fictional manipulation of EM radiation in ultra-intense amounts, they might show up within seconds (in other words, they might be combat-effec- tive Electromagnetic Energy powers, bought as Drain, Transforms, or the like).
Generating large amounts of Electromagnetic Energy in an area might interfere with radio and television reception in that area, and nearby. The GM can treat this as a Change Environment that interferes with the PER Rolls of persons using those devices (i.e., it makes it harder for the transmis- sion to come through clearly, and thus for the user to hear/see it clearly), or even as a Darkness that blocks out the transmissions entirely.
If appropriate, the GM can use the rules for Radiation (the special effect) later in this chapter to model the effects of x-rays and gamma rays.