Introduction

When one tears away the veils and shows them naked, peoples souls give off such a pungent smell of decay.
-Octave Mirbeau (1850-1917), French journalist, author. The Diary of a Chambermaid, "14 September" (1900)

     Psychics may be regarded as witches, hedge wizards, or kooks, but true Psychics have an ability that should not be dismissed. Psychic phenomena lack the raw power of most true magic, but also have much less strain on the mind. Psychics should be designated as such at chargen, though Keepers are free to introduce 'psychic awakenings' as desired.
     In the old days, psychics had some form of unusual birth circumstance, such as the 7th son of a 7th son, eyes of different colors, born with a caul, born during an auspicious astrological event, and so forth.
     In the dark days of 2040s, it was more likely the result of biological tampering due to Psi Unions or Hives, the attempts of government trying to generate an army of psychics to combat the swarms of Evils, or the dark machinations of otherworldly entities.

     Generating Psychics and psychic organizations is described in the section on Miracleworkers. Each psychic ability/psychic skill is rather narrowly focused in what it affects and how it operates. Psychic phenomena are quite specific and touchy in their operation. A precog may only get visions featuring water, or an empath might need to look at people's hands to get a read. A complex and unique skill should be designed.

     Sometimes, non-Psychics may manifest Psychic talents briefly. These people are either latently Psychic or expressing some minimal talent all humans possess. One of the most well known and common of these manifestations is for a girl to exhibit sporadic minor Psychic phenomena during puberty. A Keeper may allow extreme stress or other events to bring on the chance of a Psychic episode, and further allow a character to gain a Psychic skill. If so, it is highly recommended that such events be very rare.

Psychic skills are roughly divided into two areas: ESP and PK.

     ESP (Extra Sensory Perception) covers the broad gamut of abilities that perceive the world in ways mundane man has refused to accept, looking into the future or over distances. The ESPer faces a world which is more mysterious than that of peers. While ESP offers insights and information inaccessible to the ordinary person, it also exposes the ESPer to potentially deadly perceptions.
     In the 2050s, ESPers were valued for their abilities to perform reconnaissance and combat Evils with talent that was seen as relatively 'clean'.

     PK (PsychoKinesis) gives a powerful ability to directly control the world and manipulate it, beyond that of mortal man. Pekes have great power, though it can disappear as quickly as it comes.

Focus:

     In addition to other factors, Psychic abilities have specific foci. ESP powers will often have a specific factor which must be present to function. Other variations or interpretations of Foci are strictly Keeper's prerogative.
Ex:
  Precog (sense future visions of people) has a foci of horses. There must be a horse in any visions he will see.
  Precog (sense future visions of animals) has a foci of horses. This can either have horses as a subject, or involve horses in some way.
  Telekinetic with focus of iron, or long shapes.
  Telepath at visible range has a focus of eyes. Target must be visible and so must the target's eyes (though perhaps a glimpse to thoughts pertaining to eyes is possible)

Range:

     Psychic abilities have specific ranges:

Line of Sight: There must be nothing solid between target and Psychic. There may be poor visibility, or the target can be invisible to the Psychic. Conversely, there may not be any objects, even transparent ones, between the and target. The range is theoretically infinite.

Fixed: A range of a fixed distance, regardless of intervening substance. Range is Pow x 10 feet.

Visible: Target must be clearly visible to the watching Psychic. Intervening substances do not matter. The image could also be relayed by close circuit monitor or television, but there must be no more delay in the signal than 5 seconds or it is considered an old image. Recorded images are considered as Picture Link range.

Touch: Psychic must be touching the target. If target is unresisting, range may be up to 1 inch. At touch range the difficulty categories of Psychic attempts are shifted down. Trying to control someone would shift from a Magic test to a Power test, for example.

Sympathetic Link: Psychic is in range if he has a part of the target.

Contagious Link: Psychic is in range if he has something once worn by, contained in, or extensively used by the target.

Picture Link: Psychic is in range if he has a picture of the target.

Record Link: Psychic is in range if he listens to a recording of the target.

Similar powers:
     Under Keeper prerogative, variations on a power can be used. This should be at 1/2 skill, unless the Keeper feels circumstances warrant full skill. Two variations, at most, might be reasonable. A Keeper may also require a round or two of additional concentration, or increased cost, for such efforts.
  The amount to which powers can vary is up to the Keeper's vision of how Psychic abilities should work.

Examples:
     Precog who can see visions of people's future tries to see a vision of the future of a location. The Keeper might allow her to use Precog at x1/2 skill, double the connect cost, and/or require an additional round of concentration.
     Same precog tries to see the present appearance of a place, at x1/5 skill, or five times connect cost, or four added rounds of concentration.
     Telekinetic of iron tries to start a fire, sense iron, or TK wood might be at 1/2 skill.
     Telekinetic of iron at touch range tries to move an object further might be allowed to at 1/2 skill.

Using a Psychic abilty works in steps.

Connecting the power to a target costs either 1 Magic Point or 1 SAN, then a Psychic skill check is attempted.

To use a power, once connected, costs another 1 MP or SAN, and an appropriate check:
     Control someone: Psychic's MP vs. Subject's Pow or MP (whichever is higher)
     Scan someone: Psychic's MP vs. Subject's Pow or MP (whichever is lower)
     Scan uncontested: Idea, Spot Hidden, Listen, or other skill to interpret
     Affect uncontested: Luck or plausible skill to apply effort properly (such as Electronics to affect circuitry)

To switch powers being used requires a check of the new Psychic skill, but no MP or SAN cost.

If any use of a power fails, including switching, a Psychic skill check to avoid disconnecting.
     Every minute the connection is maintained costs another 1 MP or SAN.
     Disconnecting cleanly requires a Psychic skill check at x2, with no cost. If this fails, or a disconnect occurs from any other actions, the psychic takes 1 SAN loss.
     If a disconnect is contested, it may be treated as a Psychic use.
If total SAN loss, from connect to disconnect, is 5 or more, must roll the Psychic skill again to avoid temporary insanity.

Required Time:

     One Psychic step may be attempted per round. A Psychic leaving the opportunity of one other action pays 1 MP or SAN more for the Psychic action, or may choose to use the skill of the other attempt at x1/2, instead. Likewise, a Psychic can leave the opportunity for two other actions may pay 5 MP or SAN, or use the other skills at x1/5.
     The propogation of psychic abilities could either be instantaneous or propogate at light speed, as the Keeper desires.

Passive or Automatic Use:
     Passive use of sensory powers (where applicable) requires a Psychic check to notice something odd, or to pick up surface impressions.
     When interacting with something Horrid (mindreading Cthulhu, say) either actively or by passive 'bad vibes', a Psychic check is required to shield the influence. If this fails, the Psychic will take appropriate SAN loss as if witnessing the being directly.

Optional Occult rule:
     The Occult (or Theology, or some other form of belief, perhaps even Math or Physics) can be used to structure the Psychic's thoughts and aid in performing a Psychic action. However, it is rather time consuming. This preparation gives a bonus, credit against which MP and SAN of the following Psychic attempt draw. Before each Psychic attempt, some appropriate ritual must take place for this to take effect. Appropriate ritual components and tools may be reusable.
     A ritual lasting 1-60 minutes will give a bonus of Minutes/12, rounded down,
     1-6 hours gives bonus of Hours+4,
     6-24 hours gives bonus of (Hours/8)+10, round down. Exhaustion prevents further useful ritual.

     If the Occult skill check succeeds, the bonus is a credit against which MP and SAN of the subsequent Psychic attempt may draw. Note that the Psychic attempt is part of the ritual, so that if the Occult roll fails, the Psychic connection must still be attempted. Also, bonus does not roll over into other Psychic attempts. If a Psychic attempt ends with bonus unused, the advantage is lost.

EX:
     A shaman spends 2 hours chanting and communing with the spirits. He can accomplish 6 steps in a Psychic attempt at no cost.

Possible reasons for Psi:

• Human blood is tainted by various entities (the Dreamworld Gods, Deep Ones, various others possible), and thus gives some amazing abilities.
• Reality is not like normal humanity understands.
• Psychics are, either through inclination or through some strange perverse law of the world, more able to interact with true reality.
• Human minds propogate through domains, psychics learn to tap this.

(More examples to come)