The Awakened Psychic

(Version 1.00 - Last Modified: 08/30/2003)

• Introduction
• Partially Awakened Powers
• Fully Awakened Powers
• Hyper Awakened Powers
• Other Stuff

Introduction

During the latter part of the twentieth century, the Cold War divided the world and both sides tried to develop new technology and new weapons to use against the other if it ever came to shooting war. The huge amount of money going in defense during the Cold War allowed many unusual and non-traditional defense projects to be funded. Although most of these projects ended in failure or were simply canceled as money was needed elsewhere, one such project, aimed at developing psychic powers in the participants, achieved some very interesting results.

Although similar projects were started in the United States, England, West Germany, France, not to mention the Soviet Union, the most successful of these projects was in Japan. Originally, the experiments were only marginally successful and the project was so small it was not even given a code name, simply referred to as "The Project." During the late 1970's, a new scholar joined the project and using illegal operations, he began to work directly on the subjects in the projects, almost entirely children. Although many of the subjects died or were driven insane as a result of his experiments, those that survived began to develop amazing psionic powers. This process was referred to as awakening their internal power. As a result, the project received additional funding and new children to experiment on. The children that survived the process were given numeric designations and those that did not develop fast enough or began to display signs of mental instability were removed the project so they could not hinder the development of the other children.

Some of those removed from the project were kept under close observation or simply removed, but others slipped through the bureaucratic cracks and entered the general population. Even worse, some of the children, both in the project and those removed from it, fully understood what the experiments were causing. The children, with their psychic insight, discovered that the scholars were not stimulating any innate abilities the children possessed, like the scholar believed, but he was stimulating an inherent evolutionary trait that all Humans possessed. The children chosen for the project that survived the experiment may have been special in other ways, but if the experiment had been performed properly it could work on any Human. In fact, many of the children believed that they could achieve the same results without the experiments at all.

When the Cold War ended, the funding going to the project ran dry and although the project had developed very promising results, there was no longer the need for it and the people overseeing the project became concerned over their own liability if the facts of the project and the experiments ever became public. The surviving subjects, some now reaching adulthood, all remained in custody and under observation, but no knew subjects were brought into the project. As the threat from super villains began to increase at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the government came to view the project as a possible source for government controlled super heroes, but by then it was almost too late. The original scholar had died of a heart attack several years earlier and much of the original research in the project had been lost over the years. Fortunately for the government, they still had a large number of subjects to choose from, but many had been in isolation for so long that they only proved marginally effective in fighting super villains. Often the subjects had to be angered or agitated, often by pain or drugs given by their government handlers before they even began to fight the villain.

Still, the project was not a complete waste. In sects spread across the world, the few survivors from the project that fully understood what had happened to them and how to recreate it without surgery began to "awaken" new people. Some of these people developed only limited power, but others developed such power as to rival the most powerful mega-hero. These people referred to themselves as the Awakened. They saw themselves as not the next step in evolution, which was what the other mutants and super heroes were; the Awakened believed they were the step after that. With amazing psychic abilities and super powers, the Awakened are a match at any power level, but not all of the Awakened are heroes, many are driven insane by the process that allowed their powers to blossom and like so many others that have immense power, there are those among the Awakened that have been corrupted by their power and are ruthlessly evil, with little regard for Human life.

Partially Awakened Powers

At this level, the awakened psychic only has limited access to the amazing powers of their own minds. Although their powers are limited to only a few basic psionic powers, their mastery over these abilities is truly amazing, much better then a normal psychic. Often those that know how to awaken these powers in other people will surround themselves with followers that are partially awakened. Even with their limited psychic abilities, the Partially Awakened Psychics have an amazing amount of ISP energy.

• Attribute Bonuses:
  • +1D6 to ME
  • +1D4 to MA
• Inner Strength Points:
  The Partially Awakened Psychic's base ISP amount is equal to their ME attribute x2 +1D6x10. The psychic also gains an additional +10 ISP per level of experience, starting at level two.
• Psionic Abilities:
  At first level the Partially Awakened Psychic can select a total of six powers from any two of the lesser categories. From these powers, the Partially Awakened Psychic can select one power to be their psionic focus. This power costs only half the ISP to activate, has twice the duration, twice the range, and twice the effect (such as damage, bonuses, etc.). For example, if Impervious to Poison / Toxin was chosen as the character's area of focus, the psionic power would cost only 2 ISP to activate, would have a duration of 4 minutes per level of experience, poisons will only have a quarter of their normal effects, the character receives +4 to save vs. poisons and drugs, and they can identify poisons with a skill rating of 60% +8% per level of experience. If Telekinesis is selected as the character's psionic focus, then the character receives Telekinesis (Super) instead of the modifiers mentioned above. Alternatively, the character can exchange two psionic powers and the ability to select an area of focus and select a single Minor Super Power.

  At every new level of experience, the Partially Awakened Psychic can select an additional psionic power from any of the three lesser categories. At levels 6 and 12, the psychic can select an additional psionic focus, with the same benefits as described above. Unfortunately, the only time a psychic can select a Minor Super Power is at first level.

• Save vs. Psionic Attack:
  The Partially Awakened Psychic is considered to be a major psychic and needs a 12 or higher to save vs. psionics.

Fully Awakened Powers

A Fully Awakened Psychic is a power to behold. Easily more powerful then a natural psychic, one of main advantages of a Fully Awakened Psychic is their large ISP reserve. These psychics, although not as numerous as the Partially Awakened Psychics, were the common result of the experiments run by the original Japanese project. Most of these psychics understand the principles that brought about their awakening, but only about 15% of them would be capable of reproducing the results in another person.

• Attribute Bonuses:
  • +1D4 to IQ
  • +2D4 to ME
  • +1D4 to MA
• Inner Strength Points:
  The Fully Awakened Psychic's base ISP amount is equal to their ME attribute x3 +3D6x10. The psychic also gains an additional +15 ISP per level of experience, starting at level two.
• Psionic Abilities:
  At first level the Fully Awakened Psychic can select a total of eight powers from any of the lesser categories and two super psionic powers. From these powers, the Fully Awakened Psychic can select two powers to be their psionic focus. These powers cost only half the ISP to activate, have twice the duration, twice the range, and twice the effect (such as damage, bonuses, etc.). If Telekinesis is selected as the character's psionic focus, then the character receives Telekinesis (Super) instead of the modifiers mentioned above. In addition, the character can exchange any two psionic powers and select a single Minor Super Power.

  At every new level of experience, the Fully Awakened Psychic can select an additional psionic power from any of the three lesser categories and at levels 4, 8, 12, and 15, the psychic can select an additional super psionic power. At levels 5, 10, and 15, the psychic can select an additional psionic focus, with the same benefits as described above. The psychic can also choose additional Minor Super Powers, but only in place of the new super psionic power and the lesser psionic power at a given level.

• Save vs. Psionic Attack:
  The Fully Awakened Psychic is considered to be a master psychic and needs a 10 or higher to save vs. psionics.

Hyper Awakened Powers

Only a few awakened psychics have ever achieved this level of power. Of those that have, a few have been driven completely insane and the others have become among the most powerful psychics on the planet. Powerful in the extreme, these psychics are the same power level as any other Mega-Hero, often one is enough to take a group of normal heroes. There are generally two types of Hyper Awakened Psychics, there are those that lead large cults of awakened followers and then there are those that shun Human contact and prefer to live as hermits, away from civilization. The combination of psionic powers, a huge reserve of ISP, and super powers makes the Hyper Awakened Psychic a force to be reckoned with.

• Attribute Bonuses:
  • +1D6 to IQ
  • +2D6 to ME
  • +2D4 to MA
• Inner Strength Points:
  The Hyper Awakened Psychic's base ISP amount is equal to their ME attribute x5 +1D6x100. The psychic also gains an additional +20 ISP per level of experience, starting at level two.
• Psionic Abilities:
  At first level the Hyper Awakened Psychic can select a total of fifteen powers from any of the lesser categories and six super psionic powers. From these powers, the Fully Awakened Psychic can select five powers to be their area of focus. These powers cost only half the ISP to activate, have twice the duration, twice the range, and twice the effect (such as damage, bonuses, etc.). If Telekinesis is selected as the character's psionic focus, then the character receives Telekinesis (Super) instead of the modifiers mentioned above. In addition, the character can exchange any two lesser psionic powers or a combination of a lesser psionic power and a super psionic power and select a single Minor Super Power. The psychic can also exchange any two super psionic powers and select a single Major Super Power, although this can only be done once and only at first level and the available Major Super Power is limited to one of the following powers: Alter Metabolism, Bio-Ghost, Control Elemental Force (any), Control Others, Create Force Field, Disruptive Touch, Immortality, Super-Energy Expulsion, Supernatural Strength, Teleport, and Transferal / Possession.

  At every new level of experience, the Hyper Awakened Psychic can select an additional two psionic powers from any of the three lesser categories and at every other level of experience, starting at level two, the psychic can select an additional super psionic power. At levels 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15, the psychic can select an additional psionic focus, with the same benefits as described above. The psychic can also choose additional Minor Super Powers, but only in place of any two new psionic powers at a given level.

• Save vs. Psionic Attack:
  The Hyper Awakened Psychic is considered to be a master psychic and needs a 10 or higher to save vs. psionics.

Other Stuff

• Alignment:
  Any alignment can be chosen, but heroes should generally be of a good alignment.
• Insanities:
  The Awakened Psychics are far more prone to insanities then most heroes. There is a 01-50% likelihood that the character will have an insanity, roll once on the Random Insanity Table on page 29 of the Heroes Unlimited 2nd Edition Main Book. If the character was awakened as a result of an experiment, this chance increases to 01-70% likelihood.
• Level of Education and Skill Selection:
  Standard, an awakened psychic can come from any walk of life. However, if the character is the of the original project that raised children into adults, the character will have the equivalent of a Military Specialist or a Bachelor's Degree.
• Hand-to-Hand Combat:
  Combat skills are not automatic. They must be selected as a learned skill.
• Attacks Per Melee (Hand-to-Hand):
  As with all superbeings, the character automatically gets two attacks per melee round. Any additional attacks must be developed through combat skills.
• Weapons and Armor:
  Unless the character is extremely wealthy, only conventional weaponry and body armor would be available.
• Structural Damage Capacity (S.D.C.):
  All awakened psychic characters have a base S.D.C. of 30, which can be increased by selecting certain physical skills.
• Available Financial Resources:
  Unless the psychic is part of a cult, the character will have 4D6x100 dollars available in ready cash. This is in addition to a possible life savings (see optional rules in the Heroes Unlimited 2nd Edition Main Book). There is a 01-88% likelihood that the character owns his or her own car; 1D4 years old and in excellent condition.