Precognition
One of the rarer psychic talents is that of precognition, and only the singular talent approaches the clarity of vision for accurate prediction. Seeing the future is difficult, as the probabilities shift with each action. The best psychics travel the most accurate probability tracks, but no seer (except for the fabled Cassandra) has seen the future with 100 percent accuracy.
Roll: Perception + Awareness
- ● Intuition -- The character has yet to develop a clear view of future events. However, the psychic's perception of what is yet to come begins to take shape. Generally speaking, the power gives him a bit more luck than the average person, making him a good guesser. Predictions for random events (lotto numbers, roulette numbers) can be quite accurate. Additionally, the character's guesses on other situations can be equally accurate. He could choose the shortest route to a place or know that one person is "right" for another. Roll Perception + Awareness (difficulty 7). The more successes, the better his guesses will be. Predictions will rarely be 100 percent accurate, even with five or more successes on the roll.
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- ●● Insight -- The psychic possesses the ability to induce precognitive dreamlike visions. These visions are never literal interpretations of the future but metaphoric impressions of what is to come. An enemy might be revealed as a black knight or an evil gunslinger. A new friend might appear as a guide dog. The form of the dream generally depends on the mindset of the psychic. A New Age crystal reader's visions would differ from those of a Wall Street financier. The detail of the vision depends on the number of successes the player rolls on a Perception + Awareness (difficulty 7) roll. The more successes rolled, the more accurate the vision is, though it remains a metaphor.
- Example: Chase, a financial counselor for Insight Investments attempts to see if a certain tech stock is going to do well in the upcoming quarter. He rolls three successes on his Perception + Awareness roll. That's a "complete success" so the vision should be accurate. The Storyteller decides to tell him that he sees a robot with the company logo climbing a silicon mountain. The robot loses its grip at one point but then continues up the mountain. The stock is going to dip in value in the future but will rally back and continue to increase in value.
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- ●●● Danger Sense -- The psychic's perceptions of the future give her a psychic early warning system. This manifests as raised hackles, tingling sensations, flashes of violence or some other system, but it's usually consistent for a given psychic one might have flashes while another has cramps, but they both always have the same sign.
- This ability remains up all the time, though Anti-Psychic (or certain Time and Mind magics) can suppress or subvert the talent. If the character is about to be in danger (perhaps someone is laying in ambush or a weak link holding an overhead chandelier is about to snap), the Storyteller (or player if no Storyteller is present) rolls Perception + Alertness (difficulty 6) and consults the table below.
Roll Result Botch The character remains unaware of the danger and is distracted by a hunch or feeling that places the character in an inconvenient situation perhaps hesitating right in the perfect line of fire for an ambusher or the like. None The character's danger sense simply fails. No special intuition warns the character this time. 1 The character knows she is in danger, but none of the details of the specific danger. 2 The character knows she is in danger and what she should do to avoid it. (Duck, dive for cover, etc.) This allows the character a dodge even against an ambush. 3 The character knows she is in danger, how to avoid it and the exact source of the danger. This allows a dodge with a one point bonus on the difficulty and gives the psychic a "feeling" of the direction of the trap or attacker for a moment. 4 The character knows the details of the danger and has an extra turn of warning. In effect, the danger actually happens one turn later. This gives the psychic a turn to act, prepare, fall back, whatever. 5 The character also gets a psychic impression of the person responsible for the danger, if any. She would recognize the person should she see him.
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- ●●●● Show Me the Cards -- Though accurate predictions of the far future remain out of the character's grasp, she does have an almost perfect view of the immediate future. Roll the usual Precognitive ability (difficulty 8), every success allows her to see one turn into the future. All other players and the Storyteller must announce their general future plans and goals for as many turns as the precognitive rolled (in translation, insight in future events). If, by knowing the future, the precognitive changes her plans, then the future is changed, and thus, the character would have to try again to see what new plans would be made. For instance, in the middle of a firefight, the precognitive ducks behind cover, no longer making herself a target to a sniper. The sniper had announced his intent to shoot at the psychic, but since she is no longer a target, the sniper does not have to keep shooting at an impossible target the future diverges to a different possibility due to the psychic's interference.
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- ●●●●● Clear Vision -- Few precognitives progress this far in their ability to see the future. (Consequently, this level may only be taken on a case-by-case basis with the approval of the ST) With Clear Vision, the psychic can accurately predict the most probable one. The player rolls Perception + Awareness (Diff. 8). The future as seen is likely to happen but can be changed by the actions of the precognitive. The psychic can elect to see her own future, the future of the immediate surroundings or the future of a person or object touched. The distance into the future perceived is:
Successes Time Span 1 Next 12 Hours 2 Next Day 3 Next Week 4 Next Month 5 Next Year 6+ +1 Year/Success
- Obviously, giving concrete information about the future can be difficult for the ST. Instead of giving vague information about the story, the ST may choose to give the precognitive's player the chance to re-roll tasks--one re-roll for the story for each success scored on the Precognition roll. This represents the psychic foreseeing the future and preparing appropriately. Naturally, this power is usable only once per story.
