The Prophet

(Version 1.00 - Last Modified: 09/14/2004)

• Introduction
• Abilities of a Prophet
• Other Stuff

Introduction

The ability to see beyond the veil of time is a powerful gift and not one to be taken lightly. Few can survive the infinite future possibilities without being driven mad or getting lost in their visions forever. The Prophet is one such individual and from an early age they have been able to see the future, although they did not develop any control over this power until they passed through adolescence. Most prophets view the future in visions, flashes of possible futures that they can only watch helplessly. But as a Prophet gains experience, her control over her visions increases and her ability to see the future increases to the point where she can almost fly between different possibly futures as a psychic would fly through the Astral Plane and can watch them as if viewing a recording.

Unfortunately, the life of a Prophet is not always easy. Even with such a powerful gift, most suffer deep depression about the lack of control they have over the world. They can see all of the suffering that will happen in the future, but are seldom able to stop it. Some hero Prophets take comfort in the small good they can accomplish, but most seek to live alone and away from humanity unless something or someone they hold important is in grave danger. However unhappy the life of a good Prophet might be, the life of a selfish or evil Prophet is often very easy. With even a brief glimpses of the future, a selfish or evil Prophet can see future sports results or winning lottery numbers and it is very easy for them to accumulate great wealth, as long as they are careful. In a world filled with super heroes, a person with too much "good luck" is viewed with suspicion, especially if the Prophet operates and gambles on the darker side of life. Most good Prophet will not use their knowledge of the future to choose lottery numbers and will seldom, if ever, gamble because of the unfair advantage they believe they have.

A Prophet hero is not a front line fighter. Although they receive significant combat bonuses, they prefer to work in the background, helping to guide others to change something they saw in the future. Although Prophet might work best as NPCs, they can make interesting player-controlled characters as a Prophet always struggles with knowing the future, or at least one possible future, and their desire to be careful in directing the future. For example, if a Prophet saw a vision of a friend dead, but in all of her searching, could find no way to avoid the friend's death no matter what action she or the friend took, would she tell her friend that her time on Earth is almost over? Some GMs may find having a player run a Prophet difficult, as some players will constantly try to pry information from the GM about the future, but a GM should be careful about giving a player too much information that she does not deserve. For example, if a Prophet hero asked a GM "where did we find the villain in the future" a smart GM could answer that "in your visions of the future you see yourself fighting the villain in a dark room". A more experienced Prophet may be able to find out more about the room or about any special conditions that might have occurred before the fight, such as the mysterious disappearance of a guide they hired or they might see the villain use an ability the Prophet did not know he had, but in no case does the GM have to give the Seer the exact location of where the fight took place unless he chooses to. In the same way, the GM can be as limited in information as he or she wants to, they can always say that a Prophet's visions of the future are unclear or too scattered to be determined or too inconsequential to be of any value, but the GM should avoid making the Prophet's visions completely useless.

Abilities of a Prophet

1. Clairvoyant Visions:
   The Prophet is capable of entering a meditative trance and view brief glimpses of possible futures. It is up to the GM to determine what the Seer sees and experiences, but as she increases in experience, her ability to control her visions increases to the point where she can control what futures she sees and where she goes in these futures.

   If before a mission, the Prophet viewed a clairvoyant vision for 16 hours minus 1 hour per level of experience, she gains the following bonuses for the duration of that mission: +2 to strike, +2 to parry and dodge, +1 to all other defensive actions, and +3 to all saving throws. For example, to gain these bonuses for the duration of the mission, a sixth level Prophet would have to view the future for 10 hours.

   If before a battle, the Prophet viewed a clairvoyant vision for 16 minutes minus 1 minute per level of experience, she gains the following bonuses for that battle: +1 attack per melee, +3 to strike, +6 to parry and dodge, auto-dodge (with no bonuses other then PP attribute bonuses), and +4 to all other defensive actions. The bonuses for seeing a vision before a battle are cumulative with the bonuses for seeing a vision before a mission. For example, to gain these bonuses, a thirteenth level Prophet would have view the future for 3 minutes.

2. Change Fate:
   Once per day, the Prophet can re-roll any single dice roll, no matter how many dice were involved in the roll, but she must take the result of the second dice roll even if it is worse then the first one. The Prophet knows what the result of that dice roll would be before she has to decide to re-roll it. The Prophet can use this ability an additional time per day at levels 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15.
3. Sixth Sense:
   The Prophet cannot be surprised attack and even during a surprise attack, the Prophet can act normally. During the surprise round, the Prophet gains +6 to initiative, +2 to parry, and +3 to dodge. In addition, the Prophet gains a bonus of +2 to initiative in a combat where she would normally not be surprised. Unlike the normal Sixth Sense psionic power, this ability does not require any ISP to activate and it has no maximum range.
4. Exceptional Perception:
   The Prophet has an amazing awareness of the world around her. This awareness provides her the following psionic powers that are constantly active at no ISP cost: Sense Magic, Sense Time, and See the Invisible.
5. Inner Strength Points:
   The Prophet'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.
6. Psionic Abilities:
   The Prophet beings with the following psionic powers: Clairvoyance and Mind Block Auto-Defense. The Prophet can select four psionic powers from the Sensitive category and one Super psionic power from the following list: Advanced Trance State, Bio-Regenerate (Super), Cure Insanity, Empathic Transmission, Group Mind Block, Invisible Haze, Mind Bolt, and P.P.E. Shield. At each new level of experience, the Prophet can select an additional psionic power from the Sensitive or Healing categories and at levels 5, 10, and 15, the Prophet can select a Super Psionic power from the previous list of Super Psionic powers.
7. Save vs. Psionic Attack:
   The Prophet is considered to be a master psychic and needs a 10 or higher to save vs. psionics (or has a bonus of +5 with a base save vs. psionics of 15).

Other Stuff

• Alignment:
  Any alignment can be chosen, but heroes should generally be of a good alignment.
• Insanities:
  The Prophets are prone to depression. There is a 01-35% likelihood that the character will develop a manic depressive psychosis. Roll at the beginning of each new level of experience and each time the character witnesses a truly tragic or traumatic clairvoyant vision. If the Prophet does develop this psychosis, then roll a percentile at the beginning of each week. If the result is 01 to 33, the character suffers from a bout of depression, if the result is 34 to 66, the character has a manic episode, and if the result is 67 to 00, the character functions normally. See page 30 of the Heroes Unlimited 2nd Edition Main Book for specific bonuses and penalties for the manic depressive psychosis.
• Level of Education and Skill Selection:
  Standard, a Prophet can come from any walk of life, although they seem to be more prevalent among poorer backgrounds.
• 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 prophet characters have a base S.D.C. of 30, which can be increased by selecting certain physical skills.
• Available Financial Resources:
  The character has 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.