Obscure

You can create total Concealment in an area. Obscure costs 1 point per rank if it affects one sense type, 2 points per rank if it affects two sense types, 3 points per rank if it affects three sense types, and 4 points per rank if it affects all sense types. Visual senses count as two sense types, so a 3-points per rank Obscure FX could affect visual and one other sense type, for example.
An Obscure FX can be centered on you or created at a distance as one action. It does not move once created, although you can reposition an existing Obscure FX as one action. Characters suffer the effects of total concealment when unable to perceive an opponent and may suffer other hindrances as the GM sees fit. Your Obscure is considered to have a Wide area of effect, filling a single Zone. Note that while this definitively affects the senses for everyone within the zone, it also blocks characters who are attempting to sense through the zone. So a character is also unable to draw line of sight through a zone filled with smoke (a Visual obscure), but might be able to perceive an enemy with another sense (such as hearing, though that might not be sufficient to attack with).
==Obscuring Sensory FX==
At the Gamemaster's discretion, you can have an Obscure that works against a particular sensory FX, such as ESP or Mind Reading, suitable for certain psionic or magical abilities that block out those FX. You can't have a general "Obscure enhanced senses" FX, since various Enhanced Senses are assigned to particular sense types.
==Obscure Examples==
* Visual: darkness, fog, smoke, blinding light, clouds of small particles (dust, sand, insects).
* Auditory: counter vibration, sound-dampening field, ultra “white noise,” ultrasonics.
* Olfactory: chemical neutralizer, odor-absorbing mist, overpowering (but not nauseating) smell.
* Mental: mental “null field,” psionic static, ward against scrying.
* Sensory FX: scrying ward vs. ESP, detect, or another specific sensory FX.
==Power Level Cap==
Obscure is usually self-limiting, as it hampers friend and foe alike. However, when combined with the ability to avoid the ill-effects (or even more dangerously, spare allies the penalties), it greatly bolsters their resistances. Characters with a Visual Obscure that can be manipulated to benefit allies without penalty count Obscure as 3 ranks towards both the Defense and Attack power level caps. If it affects all visual senses, increase the virtual ranks to 5. If it affects all senses, then increase the ranks to 6. Decrease the ranks by 1 if the Obscure instead has a Narrow area.
* Enhanced Senses: Senses which Counter Obscure, especially if they can Affects Others, make Obscure much more effective.
* Selective Attack: The ability to spare yourself and allies the ill-effects of Obscure vastly enhances your combat prowess.
* Tether: Being able to drag the Obscure effect around with a character, especially when the character can ignore the effects of the Obscure, makes for a dangerous character.
The GM can feel free to reduce or eliminate these caps if a means of ignoring the Obscure is more commonplace than normal in the game.
==Extras==
* Affects Insubstantial: As a sensory FX, Obscure already affects insubstantial subjects with no need for this extra.
* Area (+0/rank): Your Obscure has a Narrow instead of a Wide area.
* Extended Duration: Continuous Obscure FX remain in place until they are countered in some fashion.
* Independent: The Obscure effect requires no maintenance from you, but fades by 1 character point of effectiveness per round until it is gone. You cannot turn off an Independent Obscure effect yourself unless you have the Reversible FX feat.
* Selective Attack: You can choose who is and is not affected by your Obscure FX. Those unaffected perceive normally, as if the Obscure were not in FX.
* Subtle: Obscure by definition cannot be Subtle for those subject to its FX; they’re automatically aware of the obscuring of their affected sense(s). However, Obscure may be Subtle for those outside its FX, such as a Visual Obscure effect that leaves everyone in the area blind, but makes it appear to anyone outside the area that there’s simply “nothing there,” obscuring the true area and its contents, but not obviously so. The GM should adjudicate any applications of Subtle to Obscure FX.
==Flaws==
* Limited to One Sense (-1/rank): Obscure normally works against an entire sense type, Obscure with this flaw works only against a particular sense of that type, leaving the others unaffected. This is most common for Obscure that only affects normal vision but not other visual senses.
* Partial (-1/rank): Your Obscure FX provides only partial rather than total concealment.
* Phantasm: Your Obscure FX is mental in nature; only creatures with Intelligence -4 or greater are affected. Machines and other non-intelligent entities or devices are immune.
* Resistance (-1/rank): You must roll an FX check against the resistance (usually Will) of characters in the area of your obscure to affect them. They gain a Will check to shake off the obscure for each step up the Time and Value Progression Table, starting at one minute.
* Sense-Dependent: Obscure is already Sense-Dependent by nature and cannot have this flaw.
Category:Rulebook
Category:Characters
Category:FX
Category:Sensory FX