Electricity Powers (FiD)
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Electricity is something that accompanies technology. Primitives recognize the power of lightning and perhaps static electricity, but little more.
Electricity powers deal with electric current, tension, and potential. It also masters magnetism. Most commonly viewed in technological terms, this also represents the lightning bolts of Zeus and the thundering hammer of Thor. Electricity is in a dominant position towards much technology - even if electric powers are not subtle enough to control technology and electronics, they can usually detect or destroy such devices.
Electric attacks are made of lightning. It is extra effective against electronics and less effective against grounded metal. Metal armor works normally against electricity unless it is grounded, in which case it grants immunity.
Electric creatures are electric elementals and monsters with electric powers, such as Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr, the goats of Thor. This includes creatures with electronic brains like AIs and robots. The few natural animals that use electricity, mainly electric eels and sharks with electrosense, can be affected by both electric and Animal powers.
The plane of electricity in a magical setting is made up of ball-lightning-like nodes of electric powers, with arcs to other similar clusters nearby. These nodes are habitats where electric creatures thrive. Random bolts of lightning connect to more distant nodes.
Electricity Power Effects
Action | Basic No minimum 3 Stress |
Advanced Minimum 2 Dice 5 Stress |
Master Minimum 4 Dice 7 Stress |
Apex Minimum 6 Dice 13 Stress |
Attune | Spark Sense Detect Electric creatures and powers. |
Spark Suppression Dismiss Electric creatures, end Electric powers. |
Spark Summon Summon an Electric creature from another plane. |
Spark Zone Create a portal to a plane of Electricity. |
Command | Electric Edict Command Electric creatures. You do not understand them. |
Electric Express Crew can communicate with electric creatures. |
Electric Elite Command Electric creatures, as if you were their superior. |
Electric Enslave Permanently bind electric creatures to service. |
Consort | Arcing Attire Mask yourself in electricity. |
Shocking Shape Assume the form of an Electric creature. |
Transformator Shocking Shape a willing or helpless creature. |
Wild Watts Shape and instruct willing or non-sentient creatures. |
Finesse | Jolted Journey Ride an Electric mount or vehicle. |
Lightning Lunge Fine and potent electric melee. Give Jolted Journey. |
Current Control Small and precise electric manipulation. |
Lightning Labyrinth A storm of electricity, suppressing scale. |
Hunt | Spark Seeker Track electric creatures and vehicles. |
Lightning Longshot Electric attack similar to a fine and potent rifle. |
Glow Glimmer Control electric devices, create coronas. |
Volt Volley Electric attack similar to a fine and potent grenade. |
Prowl | Lightning Lurker Hide from electric sensors. |
Surge Surfer Ride electric power cables. |
Shock Squadron Crew use of Lightning Lurker or Surge Surfer. |
Watt Warp Crew teleport along electric lines. |
Skirmish | Spark Stab Electric close-range attack, similar to a melee weapon or pistol. |
Lightning Lunge Skirmish Attack, except the weapon is fine and potent. |
Lightning Labyrinth Create distractions an that prevents scale. |
Electro-Explosion Electric attack on all nearby enemies. |
Study | Electric Eye Identify electric creatures and items. See radio waves. |
Current Clarity Analyze electric powers and abilities. Listen to radio. |
Ampere Analysis See past events around electric phenomena. |
Joule Judge Current Clarity in a wide area, Ampere Analysis on three targets. |
Survey | Volt Vision Sense Electric creatures, current, electromagnetic radiation. |
Voltage View Perceive the surroundings of a known electric device as if you were there. |
Power Probe Choose a location or creature. Gain Voltage View at the nearest electric device. |
Power Panorama Perceive from all electric devices at once over a wide area. |
Sway | Current Clarity Understand electric creatures and gauge their motivations. |
Electric Eloquence Crew can communicate with electric creatures. Make folk quick and decisive. |
Watt Whispers Post suggestions in the mind of an electric creature. |
Charge Compulsion Permanently change the personality of an electric creature. |
Tinker | Current Control Handle electric devices as if you had the appropriate tools and protective devices. |
Current Crafting Shape electric currents and elctro-magnetic radiation directly, will retain their shape. |
Spawn Sparks Create electric objects, currents, and radiation out of nothing. |
Lightning Lattice Current Crafting on industrial scale or build something large. |
Wreck | Static Smash Noisily crash like an electric sledgehammer. Jam radio waves. |
Short Circuit Smash electric machines as if they were wood. Fine potent sledgehammer in combat. |
Silent Surge Destroyed targets silently disappear. Blank out radar and radio waves. |
EMP Short Circuit over a large area. Blackout, jam all radio and radar. |
Expanded Electricity Powers
Attune
Harness the power of Attune Electricity to perceive and manipulate supernatural energies, allowing you to detect and interact with beings and phenomena from other planes of existence.
The consequences usually depends on what happens around you when you do it. Having helpers and bodyguards reduces the consequences, and sometimes a creature wants to be dismissed and the consequence might be that it loses control of itself, or that other creatures appear to intervene.
Spark Sense Detect Electric creatures and powers.
This is usually done to spot a disguised summoned creature. However, it can also help identify a creature's connection to powers, providing valuable insights into their nature. Limited effect suffices against a creature you can clearly see. You need greater effect against against a creature that is hidden (standard effect) or behind a wall (great effect).
Spark Suppression Dismiss Electric creatures, end Electric powers.
Dismissing a creature is hard and usually requires great effect. A creature that has been wounded or otherwise weakened only needs standard effect. A creature that wants to be dismissed requires only limited effect.
You can dispel any Electricity power and powers affecting Electricity creatures. It can be used as a defense against others' use of power, or it can be used to break the continuing effects of powers. Dispelling is often used as a setup action to help another character in a situation when the opposition is using powers. This improves the position of the supported action.
When used directly, the effect is usually limited unless the opponent is relying on powers for their safety. Against an opponent that uses power to travel a power line you can have a better effect.
When dramatically appropriate that a power is hard to dispel, often because it is the crux of the situation, this will not negate the power but instead give you a clue to what you need to do to resolve the situation.
Spark Summon Summon an Electric creature from another plane.
Summoning can bring you allies to fight or labor for you, giving you scale. They can also give advice and information related to their power. Summons can use simple effects of their power and maintain power effects you have created.
You can summon generic creatures without having to do a flashback. Such a creature is similar to a gang member in ability and are often summoned in groups to add scale. To summon a particular creature, similar to a cohort, you need its unique identity, often called true name in the mystical power traditions. For a technomancer this would be a type id number or block of data. Learning about the right creature to summon is a task in its own right, often requiring a flashback or downtime activity to use Command, Consort, Study, or Sway to gain information.
It might be worth the extra effort to summon a creature of higher tier, but this is also much more demanding, using the usual rules for tiers.
Summoned Electricity creatures generally come in two types, elementals and creatures with powers.
Elementals only exist for powers that have a direct physical manifestation, like the four classic elements of air, earth, fire, and water, but also the other forms that have a physical manifestation, electricity, ice, metal, and plant. An elemental is a simple creature totally dominated by its power. Most elementals have animal intelligence, and often take the shape of animals as well, tough animated chunks of matter and humanoid forms are also common.
Creatures with powers resemble normal creatures, having a biological body, metabolism, and functioning as ordinary living creatures but also have some exceptional abilities related to their power. A thunderbird is an oversize eagle that can cause lightning bolts. Not all creatures with powers are summonable or dismissible, many are native to this world and have no special vulnerability to Attune power effects.
Depending on your degree of effect the creature is willing to do different things. Limited effect allows you to ask questions of an intelligent creature or demand a short period of physical labor from a simple creature. The creature will not fight for you. If forced into a fight due to circumstances, it will resent it.
Standard effect allows you to ask for any service appropriate to the type of creature. A devil will do evil, a fire elemental will burn stuff, and so on. This includes dangerous tasks such as combat if the creature has such abilities, which most of them do.
Great effect allows actions outside the creature's comfort zone, but not things it directly opposes. A devil will do most things except those associated with Light, a fire elemental will heat your forge or power your steam engine. Lengthy service also requires great effect, like summoning the creature to guard a treasure for as long as it can.
Typical consequences include:
- A bargain of payment in things the creature prizes such as amber or precious metal.
- The creature strikes out at you once.
- A tightwire struggle to keep the creature under control.
- You need to concentrate to keep the creature under control.
- The creature breaks things around you.
- Overly literal interpretations of your commands.
Offering a creature gifts or services appropriate to its nature can help. This is essentially a devil's bargain, accepting a price in advance. Desperate position usually comes from trading position for effect, but it might come from a difference in ethos. If you are a druid and summon a creature focused on electronics, or if the summon is three or more tiers above you the position will be desperate. Consequences include the spirit demanding you sell your soul, become its agent in the world, that you come to its home plane to serve it there for a time (usually three scores), that you defeat the creature in a duel or similar dramatic story events.
Spark Zone Create a portal to a plane of Electricity.
Many settings will have a plane of electricity where electric powers come from. There are things that are possible to do on such a plane that are not allowed in the regular world. Most effects are reduced one step in difficulty, from advanced to basic, master to advanced, and apex to master. This opens the possibility of new super-apex powers that have to be negotiated with the game master. Such effects rarely reach outside the plane where you perform them, but if they affect creatures on that plane, the effect may remain when you return to the mundane world.
A gate lasts for a while, enough for a quick score. If things take a lot of time it might require a separate use of the power to return home again. Gating can allow access to creatures too powerful to summon, so you instead ask for an audience. The creature may then use the gate to come to you, call you into its presence, or just communicate with you.
The first-time you gate to a certain place the position is at least risky and becomes desperate if there is any kind of disturbance.
Command
Electric Edict Command Electric creatures. You do not understand them.
Electric Express Crew can communicate with electric creatures.
Electric Elite Command Electric creatures, as if you were their superior.
Electric Enslave Permanently bind electric creatures to service.
Consort
Arcing Attire Mask yourself in electricity.
Shocking Shape Assume the form of an Electric creature.
Transformator Shocking Shape a willing or helpless creature.
Wild Watts Shape and instruct willing or non-sentient creatures.
Finesse
Jolted Journey Ride an Electric mount or vehicle.
Lightning Lunge Fine and potent electric melee. Give Jolted Journey.
Current Control Small and precise electric manipulation.
Lightning Labyrinth A storm of electricity, suppressing scale.
Hunt
Spark Seeker Track electric creatures and vehicles.
Lightning Longshot Electric attack similar to a fine and potent rifle.
Glow Glimmer Control electric devices, create coronas.
Volt Volley Electric attack similar to a fine and potent grenade.
Prowl
Lightning Lurker Hide from electric sensors.
Surge Surfer Ride electric power cables.
Shock Squadron Crew use of Lightning Lurker or Surge Surfer.
Watt Warp Crew teleport along electric lines.
Skirmish
Spark Stab Electric close-range attack, similar to a melee weapon or pistol.
Lightning Lunge Skirmish Attack, except the weapon is fine and potent.
Lightning Labyrinth Create distractions an that prevents scale.
Electro-Explosion Electric attack on all nearby enemies.
Study
Electric Eye Identify electric creatures and items. See radio waves.
Current Clarity Analyze electric powers and abilities. Listen to radio.
Ampere Analysis See past events around electric phenomena.
Joule Judge Current Clarity in a wide area, Ampere Analysis on three targets.
Survey
Volt Vision Sense Electric creatures, current, electromagnetic radiation.
Voltage View Perceive the surroundings of a known electric device as if you were there.
Power Probe Choose a location or creature. Gain Voltage View at the nearest electric device.
Power Panorama Perceive from all electric devices at once over a wide area.
Sway
Current Clarity Understand electric creatures and gauge their motivations.
Electric Eloquence Crew can communicate with electric creatures. Make folk quick and decisive.
Watt Whispers Post suggestions in the mind of an electric creature.
Charge Compulsion Permanently change the personality of an electric creature.
Tinker
Current Control Handle electric devices as if you had the appropriate tools and protective devices.
Current Crafting Shape electric currents and electro-magnetic radiation directly, will retain their shape.
Spawn Sparks Create electric objects, currents, and radiation out of nothing.
Lightning Lattice Current Crafting on industrial scale or build something large.
Wreck
Static Smash Noisily crash like an electric sledgehammer. Jam radio waves.
Short Circuit Smash electric machines as if they were wood. Fine potent sledgehammer in combat.
Silent Surge Destroyed targets silently disappear. Blank out radar and radio waves.
EMP Short Circuit over a large area. Blackout, jam all radio and radar.