Necesidades básicas y servicios esenciales

to buy Skills as slots in a Power Framework (usu- ally a Multipower or Variable Power Pool). Skills is a Special Power, so characters can only buy it through a Framework with the GM’s permission.

VARIABLE POWER POOLS

Characters sometimes want to buy Power Pools for Skills, sometimes as a way of representing a special power like “reflex memory” (see below), and some- times as a way of buying lots of Skills at once without having to pay for each of them individually (see page 51). This requires the GM’s permission. If the GM grants permission, the Skills typically get the standard 9 + CHAR/5 roll. If a character buys a Skill through a VPP, he’s generally buying it using the Skills Power, and it’s subject to all rules pertaining to that Power. Nothing in those rules makes all Skills subject to a rule that pertains only to Focused Skills.

VPP Skill Rolls

Here are some additional rules and clarifica- tions regarding the Skill Roll needed to change the slots in a Variable Power Pool.

If a character has the Character Has No Choice

Regarding How Powers Change Limitation for his

Variable Power Pool, he still needs a Skill Roll; he makes the roll to determine when the slots change (he just can’t dictate what they change into). If he has the Character Has No Choice Regarding When

Or How Powers Change Limitation, he cannot have

a Skill to control the VPP, but he doesn’t have to apply the No Skill Roll Required Advantage. By defi- nition he has no control at all, and that Advantage indicates a high degree of control.

Even though changing the slots in a Variable Power Pool is a Zero Phase Action, a character cannot change two slots individually as a way of minimizing the Skill Roll penalty on each one. Unless the GM rules otherwise, a character should make only one Skill Roll to change his VPP each Phase, with the penalty to the roll based on the total Active Points of all slots being changed.

With the GM’s permission a character can use a Background Skill roll (Characteristic Roll) to change his Variable Power Pool. This requires a +¼ Advantage on the VPP’s control cost since increas- ing a Background Skill’s roll is so inexpensive.

If a character buys a Variable Power Pool with the Advantage that he doesn’t need a Skill Roll to change the Pool, he can still apply the Requires A

Skill Roll Limitation to an individual slot, if desired.

Example Skill VPPs

Here are three Skill-oriented Variable Power Pools:

I Can Do Anything: The character literally can do anything and knows everything. Since he can’t afford to pay for that many Skills individually, he buys a Variable Power Pool for Skills with the GM’s permission. Of course, he can’t have all his Skills “available” at once, which may not make sense in setting terms, but he can change the VPP pretty quickly if necessary.

I Can Do Anything: Variable Power Pool (Skill

Pool), 22 base + 11 control cost, Powers Can Be Changed As A Zero Phase Action (+1), No Skill Roll Required (+1); Only For Skills (-½). Total cost 44 points.

Knowledge Sharing: The character can share knowl- edge — either granting what he knows to others temporarily, or gaining the use of another person’s memories and information. In game terms, this rather broad effect is defined as a Variable Power Pool. The Pool can do two things: first, the char- acter can use it to apply the Usable Simultaneously Advantage to any of the character’s Knowledge Skills (an exception to the general rule against buying naked Advantages in Power Frameworks); second, the character can use it to buy a Knowledge Skill that another character has (an exception to the general rule about not buying Skills through Power Frameworks). In either case, he must touch the character to/from whom he transfers a Knowledge Skill. (At the GM’s option, this ability might apply to Skills other than Knowledge Skills that involving knowing things, such as Languages or some aspects of Computer Programming.) The Skills remain in the character’s mind, or the mind of the person to whom he transferred them, only as long as he keeps the Power Pool assigned to the appropriate abili- ties. Changing the allocation of the Pool means the knowledge shared fades away instantly. If a char- acter wants to gain a Knowledge Skill permanently through psionic sharing, he has to buy the Skill with Character/Experience Points.

Knowledge Sharing: Variable Power Pool

(Knowledge Sharing Pool), 20 base + 10 control cost; Only For Sharing Knowledge (see text; -1). Total cost 25 points.

Reflex Memory: The character can copy, mimic, or otherwise use the physical skills and abilities of any person, provided he observes the target using them. Once he’s copied them into his own “reflex memory,” he can use them again whenever he wants (assuming he allocates Variable Power Pool points to them). “Physical skills” include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following:

■ Skills such as Acrobatics, Breakfall, Climb-

ing, Combat Skill Levels, Contortionist, Defense Maneuver, Fast Draw, Martial Arts, Skill Levels with Agility Skills, Sleight Of Hand, and Two-Weapon Fighting

■ Powers and abilities defined as “super-skills” or

“enhanced physical training,” such as an Energy Blast or RKA defined as “super-accurate throwing” or a Hand-To-Hand Attack defined as a secret mar- tial arts maneuver.

Note that this does not necessarily include any Skill with a physical component. The character couldn’t copy Lockpicking, for example, because it requires more than just deft physical movements — it requires knowledge the character can’t acquire just by watching a locksmith at work. The GM determines whether the character can copy a par- ticular Skill or ability. If appropriate, the GM may

allow the character to substitute a related Profes- sional Skill. For example, Reflex Memory won’t let a character copy Computer Programming by watch- ing a programmer type, but the GM might let him “copy” PS: Typing instead.

This power requires the GM’s permission for two reasons. First, it involves putting Skills (includ- ing Combat Skill Levels) in a Power Framework, something normally forbidden by the rules. Second, it has a significant potential to unbalance a cam- paign, since it lets a character have a wide variety

of Skills and skill-like abilities without paying for them individually. The GM may eventually decide that the character has copied so many abilities that the Only For Physical Skills Limitation no longer really restricts or hinder him, in which case he may require the character to pay Experience Points to buy the value of the Limitation down to -0.

Reflex Memory: Variable Power Pool (Reflex

Memory Pool), 30 base + 15 control cost; Only For Physical Skills The Character Observes In Use (-½). Total cost: 30 + 10 = 40 points.