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Power Profile: Time Powers

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Power Profile: Time Powers POWER PROFILE: TIME POWERS Time is literally “on your side”! Time powers can speed up Perception Ranged and Indirect, given their nature) or slow down the flow of time, perceive the future or the and tachyon force fields providing Sustained Protec- past, “sidestep” into parallel timelines, and even allow you tion or other defensive benefits. to stop time altogether or change history! • Time: The passage and measurement of time as a game value is discussed on pages 11–12 of the MUTANTS & MASTERMINDS Hero’s Handbook, specifically TIME DESCRIPTORS in terms of ranks as measurements of values of time The following are important descriptors for time powers and the relationship between scenes (narrative time) and their effects. and actions rounds (action time). Many effects in M&M use time ranks. • History: The sequence of events which occurred in the past. History is not necessarily fixed in a world • Countering: Time powers can potentially counter where time travel and temporal manipulation are each other, either through direct manipulation of the possible and, in some instances, a certain vagueness continuum or by applying equal and opposite changes about historical events may conceal temporal para- (decelerating time the same amount as someone doxes. For example, a time-traveling hero goes back else accelerates it, for example). This may also allow into the past to investigate historical records of a time powers to counter speed powers, decelerating mysterious stranger involved in a particular key point targets in time by the same amount as they speed up. in history, only to become entangled in those events Other uses of time powers to counter tend to be and discover he is the “mysterious stranger” who trig- in the form of indirect tampering with history rather gered his own investigation into the past! than a direct power vs. power contest, causing a par- ticular effect to “un-happen” (or to never have hap- • Tachyon: Tachyons are theoretical subatomic par- pened in the first place). See the Replay power under ticles able to travel faster than the speed of light Utility Powers for an example. (from the Greek tachys, meaning “swift”). Because of their ability to violate causality as we understand it, tachyons are often used as an explanation for tempo- TIME FEATURES ral powers: characters emit or control tachyons as a means of producing their effects. Tachyons are often Feature effects associated with Time Powers include the treated as an exotic form of energy or radiation, al- following: lowing for various other power effects, similar to • Chronal Memory: You have the ability to “remem- those found in the Electrical Powers and Radiation ber” other timelines. If someone changes history, Powers profiles. Examples include tachyon-based your memory contains two versions of events: the energy blasts inflicting Ranged Damage (perhaps current timeline and the original one. These differing POWER PROFILE: TIME POWERS 1 recollections let you know, first, that history has been the greater continuum. Indeed, if quantum theory changed and, second, may provide clues as to how is correct, every possible universe may exist within a and when it changed and what you can do about it. greater N-dimensional continuum or “omniverse”. • Chronal Bulwark: You are “fixed” in time such that Gamemasters should note that these approaches to time when history is changed (see Temporal Tampering, tampering need not be universal. For example, time may, following) you do not change with it. The difficulty as a general rule, be immutable and immune to casual is that only you (and others like you) remember the tampering by time travelers (including the heroes) but original timeline and you are now unfamiliar with the certain plot devices can render it mutable, so the villain “new” world. If you have both this and the Chronal possessing the Chronos Key does wield the power to Memory Feature, you retain your traits from the origi- change history, unless the heroes can stop him without nal timeline, but remember both. changing history themselves! TEMPORAL TAMPERING OFFENSIVE POWERS The ability to alter time, especially to change history, has Offensive time powers involve manipulating the flow of tremendous repercussions, and has been the subject of time in ways harmful or detrimental to targets, whether countless stories and theories. While time tampering and directly (causing rapid aging, for example) or indirectly its effects are a common comic book plot device, they can (using stopped time to set up harmful circumstances). cause considerable headaches for a MUTANTS & MASTERMINDS Gamemaster, if left entirely in the hands of a group of players. Settings generally take one of four approaches to AGE MANIPULATION temporal tampering and changing the past: Exerting control over a discrete portion of time, you can • Immutable Time: Historical events are essentially cause a target to rapidly grow older or younger, even to “fixed” in time and time-travelers cannot change the point of death (or birth) where they cease to exist! them, no matter how much they try. Either time trav- The primary effect of this power is to strip away some of elers are incorporeal phantoms, unable to interact the target’s capabilities: reducing physical abilities due to with the past (in which case the Time Travel effect extreme age or youth, perhaps even reducing or remov- is unavailable; characters can only observe the past ing mental abilities due to infirmity or immaturity. Ulti- using Postcognition) or time itself seems to conspire mately, the mechanical effects are similar. If you can shift a to prevent time-travelers from changing anything target’s aging both forwards or backwards, apply 1 rank of other than the most inconsequential events. So, go the Variable Descriptor modifier. back in time and try to prevent the assassination of a historical figure, for example, and you’ll find your- By default, this power only works on living beings you self stymied at every turn: stuck in traffic, trapped in can touch. If you do not need to touch the target, apply a cave-in, your weapon malfunctioning, and so forth. Ranged or Perception Ranged. If you can also rapidly age objects, to the point of causing them to break down and • Resistant Time: History can be changed, but it tends decay, apply the Affects Objects modifier as well. to resist change, trying to “snap back” to its previous shape and compensating for any changes. So, for Age Manipulation: Cumulative Affliction (aging; Resisted and example, if you eliminate Adolf Hitler before his rise Overcome by Fortitude; Impaired, Disabled, Transformed) • 2 to power in Germany, someone else takes his place as points per rank. the demagogic leader of the National Socialist Party and Chancellor of Germany, and World War II still happens largely on schedule, with different details. TEMPORAL AMBUSH Changes tend to “even out” over the long run and it By stopping (or vastly slowing) time, you can “set up” a is exceedingly difficult to create significant, lasting target for an attack: placing an object to drop onto them, change in history. for example, or a projectile to hit them. When you restart • Mutable Time: Historical events are not fixed, and time again, from the target’s perspective, the attack changing them creates a whole new sequence of appears out of nowhere. This power is often used in con- events. Given the range of variables involved, it may junction with Temporal Shift, Temporal Movement, and be nigh-impossible to predict the outcome of any Time Stop, which also rely on stopping time. such changes, and the lack of “resistance” may make it difficult for the time-stream to recover from inci- Temporal Ambush: Perception Ranged Damage (objects and dences of tampering without outside intervention hazards of opportunity), Indirect 4 • 4 points +3 points per rank. (which is, itself, another form of tampering). • Quantum Time: This is a combination of Mutable TIME FREEZE and Immutable Time; history can be changed, but the change creates an alternate timeline, “splitting You trap a target in a “bubble” of stopped (or vastly off” from previous history at the change-point. In the slowed) time, essentially freezing them from the perspec- new parallel universe, history takes a different course, tive of the outside world. You must touch the target by but the original timeline still exists “somewhere” in default. If you can use this power at a distance, apply the Ranged or Perception Ranged modifiers. 2 POWER PROFILE: TIME POWERS POWER PROFILE: TIME POWERS Time Freeze: Cumulative Affliction (time freeze; Resisted and TEMPORAL SHIFT Overcome by Will; Dazed, Stunned, Incapacitated) • 2 points per rank. By stopping time, moving to a different spot, then re- starting the flow of time again, you make it appear as if you have “jumped” from one location to another without DEFENSIVE POWERS crossing the space in between, even though you actually did so “outside” of ordinary time. The power’s rank isn’t Defensive time powers take advantage of influence over technically the distance you can go, it’s the time you have time to “cheat” in avoiding attacks, or involve protection to move while time is stopped for everyone else. from the effects of time and temporal powers. Temporal Shift: Accurate Teleport, Limited to places you can TEMPORAL PHASE reach physically • 2 points per rank. Shifting just a moment “out of phase” with ordinary time, You may also be able to take other objects or people with you become an immaterial phantom image, able to pass you when you shift “outside” of time, in which case, apply through solid objects, and you are immune to harm. the Perception Range and Attack modifiers to this power. Some forms of Temporal Phase also render you undetect- This allows you to, for example, snatch something out of able to anyone existing in normal time.
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