Mutations

Mutations When the Scream tore the sanity from humanity’s psychics the consequences were disastrous. Those few psionic adepts who survived the cataclysm were left violently insane, and their savage assault against their own homeworld left scars that still bleed two centuries later. Among the worst of these injuries was their perversion of the Highshine disaster recovery system. Originally intended as a planet-wide emergency response system, Highshine was a network of nanite emitters and control nodes planted across the entire globe. In the case of some global disaster such as an orbital strike, nuclear explosion, or nanite rampancy, the Highshine system would engage and gout torrents of airborne recovery nanites to aid the wounded and stabilize the area. These nanites would repair physical injuries, reinforce crumbling structures, and cleanse radioactivity and toxins from living creatures. The Crazed perverted that. Despite the desperate attempts of the AI Maestros to prevent the mad psychics’ plans, the precognitive nanocoder known as the Bender twisted Highshine’s programming. Multiple nanite genera were blended and distorted, their effects scrambled into a lethal brew of incompatible augmentations. Cosmetic, social, and even military nanite strains were randomly crossbred with each other to create wildly exotic genera that were all but certain to kill their unlucky hosts. All the Maestros could do was to reinforce Highshine’s baseline programming. The nanites were meant to sustain life, not to end it, and this fundamental directive overrode some of the worst interactions that the Crazed had attempted to engage. Highshine would twist those it infected, but it would rarely kill them outright. For some, this was no mercy. The smallest genetic damage from radioactivity or faintest trace of hostile nanite infection was all that was necessary to leave a person vulnerable to the healing devastation of a Highshine infection. Many among the survivors of the Scream found themselves changing into hideous monstrosities or crippled abominations. Some died outright, while a few of the rest found that their mutations bred true through new generations. Today, these mutants are known by many different names: the Changed, the Cursed, the Shined, or simply “those damned muties”. Some survivor enclaves accept them for the sake of their unique abilities, while others fear them or despise them as monsters. A few enclaves are made up entirely of mutants with inheritable changes. All in all, perhaps one in every five humans alive today are mutants. New mutants are made each day. Almost any human runs the risk of Highshine infection if they suffer chromosomal damage or a random nanite infection. If a drift of Black Dust doesn’t kill a human, Highshine might well finish the job. Every man and woman who roams the wastelands recognizes that they run the risk of being changed in mere minutes. Sometimes they are accepted back among their people. Other times, they are driven forth by the ones who once loved them. Mutations and Stigmata Every mutation leaves its mark on the victim. These marks are known as “stigmata”, and they range from minor variations in skin color to hideous physical deformities and monstrous reconfigurations of flesh. For heritable mutations, the stigmata tend to repeat from generation to generation. The existence of stigmata is considered an inarguable proof of mutation. In some enclaves, mutants are feared and hated, while others find them forming the ruling caste. In most, however, they are accepted or rejected based on their usefulness to the rest of the community. If a character has any mutations at all, he or she must roll on the Stigmata table that follows. Advanced pretech surgical repair might be able to fix such a mark, but it may interfere with the use of the character’s mutations. Worse still, a character that shows remarkable abilities without evidence of stigmata runs the risk of being taken for a dreaded psychic, which is enough to provoke a lynching in almost any community. Mutants usually have only one stigmata, regardless of how many mutations they may have. Generating Mutations Every character may spend up to three points on mutations during character creation. Points not spent on mutations may be used to boost their ability modifiers. Normally, one point buys one mutation roll on the charts that follow. Every mutant character has one stigmata, which must be rolled on the appropriate table. Stigmata have no effect on the character’s attributes, movement rate, or other characteristics, but they are often quite obvious to any visual inspection. Mutants only need to have one stigmata, though the player can optionally roll more if they’re an exceptionally freakish specimen. Next, the player rolls a mutation flaw, representing the negative consequences of the mutation. Certain words in each flaw are given in brackets; this means that the player should roll once on the corresponding table given in this chapter to determine specifics. For example, if the entry reads “You have a [Shape] [Body Part]”, the player should roll once on the Shape table and once on the Body Part table to find out exactly what kind of twisted limbs they have. Characters may optionally spend two points to get a mutation without a significant drawback, or with a purely cosmetic effect on their appearance. This choice must be made before the flaw is rolled. After determining the mutation’s flaw, the player then rolls on the Mutation Benefit table to find out what good has been done by the change. All of the nanite strains were originally intended to do something useful, and even the perversion of the Highshine system cannot entirely erase that functionality. In most cases, the player should try to associate the flaw and benefit together, explaining how one influences the other. If the flaw is a 30 nanite-induced vulnerability to open flame and the benefit is the ability to disappear in holographic invisibility, the player might describe the character as having skin studded with countless tiny, delicate lenses that crack and smudge in flame. If they have an animalistic, canine tint to their appearance and the mutation benefit of flight, they might decide that the character looks like some batwinged wolfman with fringes of fur down his membranous pinions. Any linkage that suits the player can work if the GM also finds it acceptable. In some cases, the flaw and the benefit duplicate existing mutations or are mutually contradictory- a deaf mutant who also is supposed to have superlative hearing, for example, or someone who rolls the same flaw or benefit twice. In that case the player may reroll either the flaw or the benefit until something compatible is produced. It is always the GM’s final say as to what combinations are plausible. Choosing Flaws and Benefits By default, mutation flaws and benefits are determined randomly. Arranging things that way spares players the temptation of trying to figure out the “best” combinations and saves the GM from having to approve each individual mutation as a fair combination. Characters might randomly roll a very useful mutation, but this chance is counterbalanced by equal odds of getting something less than handy. Still, some GMs and players prefer to choose their mutations, either to match particular character concepts or to avoid combinations that might render a particular character hard to play. There’s no fundamental reason to forbid this, but the GM should be careful to avoid entire parties full of mutants with flaws that don’t really hinder them and benefits that play perfectly to their chosen roles. One potential rule is to allow a character to spend an additional mutation pick to choose the specific flaw or benefit obtained, or all three picks to choose every detail about their single mutation. Another option might apply when a player simply wants to avoid certain stigmata or flaws that would leave the character displeasing to them. If a result comes up that is intolerable to them, they can spend a pick to roll again on the table, automatically rerolling any repeats. A final choice may be to simply allow a player to choose up to two mutations, selecting all the elements as they wish. Those who don’t choose to have mutations may spend four points increasing their attribute modifiers instead of three, and may increase any one modifier by up to 2 points, to a maximum modifier of +3. System Strain Many mutations reference a cost in System Strain, a measure of the stress placed upon a human’s system by nanite manipulation. A human body can only handle so much modification, and extensive use of the more exotic mutations or demanding Old Terran devices can exhaust the host’s reserves. Characters always start with zero System Strain points. They can accumulate points up to a limit equal to their Constitution score. After this, a character cannot accrue any further points; powers or devices that exact a cost in System Strain cannot be used or have no effect upon the character. His or her system has simply had too much stress to respond to further alterations. A character can always refuse an effect that would inflict System Strain, automatically resisting its effects. Characters lose one accrued System Strain point per day, assuming they are nourished and get sufficient comfortable sleep. Taxed organs and stressed flesh gradually regain their suppleness, and the character can then use their abilities once more. 1d10 Stigmata 1 Your skin is of a dramatically unnatural color and/or texture. 2 Roll 1d6. On a 4+, you lack a body part. On 3-, you have an additional body part. Roll on the Body Parts table in the following section to find out which it is. 3 You are horrendously ugly, with inhuman features taken from one or more rolls on the Animals table. -2 to all social skill checks that don’t involve intimidation. 4 Roll 1d6. On a 4+, a body part is unnaturally large. On 3-, it’s dwarfishly small. Roll on the Body Parts table in the following section to find out which body part is affected. The change has no effect on your physical attributes. 5 Your limbs or face have appearances taken from at least one roll on the Shapes table. 6 Your body is patterned with nanite tattoos that have long since lost their meaning. Roll 1d6; on 5 or 6, they glow in the dark out to a radius of 10 meters. 7 One or more body parts are changed to have features appropriate to at least one roll on the Animal table. 8 Roll 1d6. On a 4+, you are unnaturally tall, 200 + 10d10 centimeters in height. On 3-, you are unnaturally short, 75 + 10d10 centimeters tall. Physical attributes are not altered, but short characters cannot use twohanded weapons that have not been specifically crafted for them. 9 The nanites have formed a metallic crust or chrome over some portion of the character. 10 The nanites have molded your flesh into an unearthly vision of beauty or handsomeness save for one blatantly inhuman feature. Roll on the Body Part chart to find out the limb affected, and then either the Animal or Shape chart to determine the flavor of the change. 31 1d12 Mutation Flaws 1 You have a [Shape] [Body Part]. 2 You suffer a [Mental Debility]. 3 Your physiognomy cannot endure [Injury Source], and such injuries roll twice for damage and take the higher score. 4 [Environment] leaves you debilitated and weak, suffering a -2 modifier to your [Physical Attribute] modifier that lasts for ten minutes after exposure. 5 You lack [Body Part], though you have an extra [different Body Part]. 6 Your strange internal organs make it difficult for you to make [Saving Throw], suffering a -3 penalty on that save. 7 Inefficient metabolic processes leave you requiring twice the usual supply of [Necessity] in order to avoid ill effects. If the necessity is sleep, the amount required is 12 hours to avoid the Tired negative condition. 8 Your features and form have heavy [Animal] traits. Perhaps you come from a strain of uplifted beasts, but others mistrust your feral shape. Suffer a -2 penalty on all social skill checks with strangers. 9 You recover slowly from stress, losing one accrued System Strain point every other night instead of each night. 10 Your [Sense] is very weak. If sight, you cannot succeed at ranged combat rolls more than ten meters away. If hearing, you are deaf. If smell and taste, you suffer a -2 penalty on all foraging skill checks and cannot tell contaminated food from clean. 11 Your mutation ravages your system. In addition to any normal activation costs, using it costs either 1 System Strain point or 1d6 points of damage, chosen at the time of use. For constantly-active mutations, this cost must be paid once per day to activate the power. 12 Your body is not even humanoid, though you have at least one limb that can serve as a hand. Roll 1d4+2 times for body parts and traits, rolling at least three times on [Body Part]. The remainder of the rolls can be made on [Body Part], [Animal], or [Shape] tables. 1d12 Mutation Benefits 1 You have a [Natural Attack] that can be used in combat. 2 You have a resistance to [Injury Source], forcing a second damage roll and using the lesser of the two. 3 Your mutations have resulted in [Exotic Power]. 4 Your reinforced body allows for [Natural Armor]. 5 Your shape has gifted you with [Movement Power]. 6 Your augmented brain allows for flashes of brilliance, granting a +2 bonus to your [Mental Attribute] modifier. The strain of activating this ability adds 1 System Strain point and it lasts for five minutes or one skill check, whichever takes longer. 7 Your powerful form can be pushed to feats of mighty prowess, granting a +2 bonus to your [Physical Attribute] modifier. The strain of activating this ability adds 1 System Strain point, and it lasts for five minutes or one skill check, whichever takes longer. 8 Your enormous vitality grants you [Endurance Power]. 9 Natural immunities and defenses leave you remarkably resistant to effects that require a [Saving Throw]. Once per day, you can choose to automatically succeed on such a save before rolling it. 10 Natural hardiness combines with nanite energy production to leave you impervious to a lack of [Necessity]. You do not require it to remain in good health. 11 Hyper-acute awareness and sensory mutations grant you [Sensory Power]. 12 A nanite neurointerface and projective dust emitters grant you a [Mental Power]. 32 Extra Body Parts and You Extra body parts do not automatically allow for extra actions, faster movement, or other benefits. Characters can still use spare limbs to hold or manipulate objects, however. A character with four arms might be able to hold a rifle in two hands, a shield in a third, and a spear in a fourth- but he could only get the benefit of two of those arms on any given round. It’s up to the player to decide how and where any extra body parts are placed on the mutant, along with their appearance if not otherwise determined by the mutation that granted them. Characters who no longer retain a humanoid shape are unable to wear most salvaged Old Terran armor or vacc suits. Equipment created specifically for them by a trained artisan can still be worn. 1d8 Animal 1d10 Body Part 1d8 Endurance Power 1 Avian. Feathers, vestigial wings, beaks, talons. 1-2 One or two legs 1 Kinetic Damper 2 Reptilian. Scales, claws, long muzzles, frills, spikes. 3-4 One or two arms 2 Natural Regeneration 3 Insectile. Chitin, compound eyes, mandibles, antennae. 5-6 Head 3 Quick Healing 4 Canine. Fur, teeth, tails, digitigrade legs, muzzles. 7-8 One or two eyes 4 Radioactive Vitality 5 Aquatic. Fish scales, bulging eyes, slimy coating, "whiskers", fins, tentacles. 9-10 Mouth 5 Resilient Body 6 Hippoid. Manes, hooves, tails, short-furred pelts, long limbs. 6 Self-Sustaining 7 Ursine. Toothy muzzles, short fur, stub tails, wide bodies. 7 Temperature Resistance 8 Feline: Fur, claws, tails, slit pupils, manes 8 Universal Immunity 1d8 Environment 1d8 Exotic Powers 1d6 Injury Source 1 Darkness unlit by at least a torch 1 Detachable Organs 1 Blunt Impact: Hammers, maces, falls, punches 2 Deserts or other very arid places 2 Energy Siphon 2 Chemical: Acids, toxins, gas clouds 3 Natural daylight 3 Healing Touch 3 Edged: Spears, claws, teeth, blades 4 Radioactive zones 4 Innate Link 4 Heat: Open flame, lasers, or plasma. 5 Rainy or aquatic environments 5 Invisibility 5 Metadimensional: Shear rifles, psychic injuries, exotic TL5 energy weapons 6 Sub-freezing temperatures 6 Plasticity 6 Projectiles: Arrows, bullets, mag weaponry 7 Subterranean areas 7 Shapeshifter 8 Swamps, coasts, and humid areas 8 Sonic Shaper 1d6 Mental Attribute 1d8 Mental Debility 1d6 Mental Power 1-2 Charisma 1 Cowardly 1 Double Mind 3-4 Intelligence 2 Dissociated 2 Dreadful Air 5-6 Wisdom 3 Foolish 3 Empath 4 Gluttonous 4 Hand of Will 5 Paranoid 5 Mindspeech 6 Quarrelsome 6 Psychic Lash 7 Vengeful Mental powers are nanite-based, and do not make the mutant into an actual psychic. 8 Wrathful 33 Ablation: You have an ablative shell or carapace that can absorb up to 10 hit points of damage before you begin to suffer injury. The carapace regains its integrity after a night’s rest. Acute Hearing: Your sense of hearing is so precise that you can fight and dodge normally while blinded, provided the target is within 20 meters. You gain +2 to any listening-based Perception skill checks. Acute Vision: Your sight is spectacularly keen. You can recognize faces at a kilometer’s distance on a clear day and gain +2 to any sight-based Perception skill checks. Alacrity: You move at a very high rate of speed, double the normal walking or running movement rate for a human. Aquatic: You can swim like a fish, moving at your full rate and breathing normally while underwater. While submerged, you can feel the details of your surroundings out to 20 meters without need for light. Armored Skin: Your outer integument is tough or metallic, granting a -2 AC bonus that is cumulative with any armor worn. Biogun: You can expel bone shards, teeth, or other natural projectiles as if firing a combat rifle, using either Combat/Unarmed or Combat/Projectile as the relevant skill and Dexterity as the attribute for the attack. After each fight or situation in which this mutation is used, roll a save versus Tech. On a failure, the mutation is drained for the day unless you spend 1 System Strain. Body Weaponry: You may attack with claws, teeth, spurs, or other bodily weaponry that grants you +2 on the hit roll and does 1d10 damage. You may use either your Strength or Dexterity with this attack and use either Combat/Unarmed or Combat/Primitive. Mutant Powers and Debilities 1d8 Movement Power 1d10 Natural Armor 1d6 Natural Attack 1 Alacrity 1-2 Ablation 1 Biogun 2 Aquatic 3-4 Armored Skin 2 Body Weaponry 3 Clinging 5-6 Reactive Armor 3 Explosive Emissions 4 Flight 7-8 Reflective Integument 4 Laser Gaze 5 Jumper 9-10 Slime Buffer 5 Stinger 6 Metastep 6 Toxic Breath 7 Burrower 8 Phasing 1d6 Necessity 1d6 Physical Attribute 1d10 Saving Throw 1-2 Food 1-3 Strength 1-2 Physical Effect 3-4 Sleep 4-6 Dexterity 3-4 Mental Effect 5-6 Water 5-6 Evasion 7-8 Tech 9-10 Luck 1d6 Sense 1d8 Sensory Power 1d8 Shape 1-2 Sight 1 Acute Hearing 1 Amoeba-like 3-4 Hearing 2 Acute Vision 2 Chitinous 5-6 Smell and Taste 3 Danger Sense 3 Furred 4 Energy Sensitivity 4 Fungal or plant-like 5 Night Vision 5 Finned 6 Precognitive Flash 6 Metallic 7 Radar Sense 7 Scaled 8 Tracker’s Nose 8 Tentacular 34 Burrower: The mutant has strong claws, teeth, or other digging apparatus capable of chewing through standard construction materials, earth, and rubble. Their digging attempts ignore the armor on materials softer than armored bulkheads, and do 1d6 damage to barriers per round. They can dig a human-sized passage one foot deep through earth or rubble with one minute of effort. Clinging: Sticky exudate, microscopic suction surfaces, or limited antigrav allows you to climb on any surface capable of bearing your weight at your full normal movement rate. Cowardly: The first time you are injured in a combat or a dangerous environment, you must succeed on a Mental Effect saving throw or flee for five minutes. This panic can be quashed at the cost of 1 System Strain point. Danger Sense: Your nanoinfection maintains a constant low-level situational awareness, alerting you just before danger strikes. You cannot be surprised and gain a +2 bonus on all Evasion saves. Detachable Organs: You can remove a sensory organ such as an eye or ear and perceive normally through it while remaining within two kilometers. The organ is destroyed if struck or the owner goes more than two kilometers distant. If not reattached, an organ regrows in a week. Removing an organ costs 1 System Strain. Dissociated: You have an impossible time reading body language and social cues. You automatically fail any attempt to read someone’s feelings or determine whether or not they’re lying to you, unless the truth is blatantly obvious. Take -2 on social skill checks. Double Mind: You have parallel thought processes and can simultaneously perform two actions, provided at least one of them is purely mental in nature. As a side effect, you cannot be surprised. Dreadful Air: You can emit a cloud of terrifying psychoactive spores or nanites around yourself out to a range of 20 meters. Allies are unnerved but otherwise unaffected, while enemies are forced to make a Morale check if engaged in combat with you. This power costs 1 System Strain to activate and lasts 1 round. Empath: Aside from gaining a +1 bonus on any social-based skill check, you can briefly focus on a target at the cost of 1 System Strain point. If the target fails a Mental Effect saving throw, you get a brief flash of their surface thoughts Energy Sensitivity: You can shift your senses to perceive electrical currents, charged power cells, and radioactivity within a 10 meter range. This sense can penetrate up to a meter of intervening matter. Energy Siphon: The mutant can absorb stored electrical energy from a distance. Once per round, they can target a visible device within 30 meters and deplete one Type A power cell’s worth of energy from it. Each cell depleted adds 1 System Strain. Explosive Emissions: You can lob sacs of explosive biochemicals or spheres of unstable nanites as if throwing fragmentation grenades, using either Combat/Unarmed or Combat/Primitive as the relevant skill. Activating this ability costs 1 System Strain, after which it can be used for five rounds. Flight: Wings or antigrav nanites allow for brief flight at double your normal walking or running speed. You are perfectly stable in flight, and can hover in place. Activating this ability costs 1 System Strain for five minutes of flight. Winged mutants can glide in a mostly-straight line for up to an hour on an activation. Foolish: The mutant suffers from brain damage induced by the Highshine nanites. Its Intelligence or Wisdom modifiers decrease by 2 points, divided as the player chooses. Gluttonous: Every day, you must either spend a System Strain point or succeed in a saving throw versus Mental Effect. If failed, you will eat a second ration of food. If the food is unavailable or kept from you, you suffer the Querulous negative condition for one day, complaining and miserable with unsatisfied want. Hand of Will: Focalized nanomanipulators allow the remote handling of objects within visual range. The mutant may manipulate an object as if with one hand at their current Strength. Doing so constitutes their action for the round. Healing Touch: You can heal yourself or others by touch, healing 1d6 plus the target’s Constitution modifier at a cost of 1 System Strain point inflicted on the target. Innate Link: Your nanoinfection is laced with fragmentary elements of ancient interface code. At will, you can gain the benefits of having an implanted Link as described in the equipment chapter. Invisibility: Mimetic holocloaking allows you to turn invisible. While so transparent, you automatically succeed on Stealth checks against the inattentive, and gain a +4 bonus against vigilant guards. Attacks and other violent movements disrupt the field and end the effect. Each use lasts 15 minutes and costs 1 System Strain. Jumper: You can leap or glide short distances, moving up to your full movement rate. You subtract 30 meters from fall damage. Kinetic Damper: Ignore falling damage or other full-body impacts or compression, including falling ceilings, crushing walls, or avalanches. The immunity costs 1 System Strain per round. Laser Gaze: A body part can emit energy equivalent to that of a laser rifle, with the attack treated as if it came from such a weapon. You may use the Combat/Unarmed or Combat/Energy skill and your Dexterity modifier for these attacks. After each combat or scene involving use of this mutation, you must save versus Tech with a -2 penalty if the gaze was used in burst-fire mode. On a failure, the mutation is drained for the day unless you spend 1 System Strain. Metastep: Short-jump teleportation nanites allow you to teleport to any location within unaided visual range for 1 System Strain. Mindspeech: Telepath-analog nanites allow you to silently communicate with any intelligent being within visual range. Communication is at a deep level, and no shared language is necessary. 35 Natural Regeneration: Once per day, instantly regenerate 2d6+level hit points at a cost of 2 System Strain. Night Vision: You have intrinsic low-light vision, and can see normally out to 50 meters so long as at least a candleflame’s worth of light is present within range. Paranoid: While necessity and habit can force you to trust teammates and close friends, strangers are seen to be perpetually plotting against you. You must succeed in a Mental Effect saving throw to make any kind of agreement. If the save is failed, you must argue with yourself for an hour before you can attempt it again. Phasing: You can briefly phase a large portion of your mass into metadimensional space, leaving you almost intangible. You can push their way through all but exotic Old Terran psi-shielded materials at normal movement rates. You cannot touch or affect the tangible world while phased, nor can you be affected. You are visible while phased. Each round spent phased adds 1 System Strain. If you re-materialize inside a physical object, you are shunted into the nearest open space, suffering 1d10 damage per meter. Plasticity: You have a soft and flexible form. In one round, you can collapse into a fleshy puddle of equivalent mass, flowing through any space at least three centimeters in width. Limbs can be stretched up to three meters and still manipulate objects. Armor and clothing always fit you regardless of their other mutations, as any inconvenient limbs can be softened and stuffed into the outfit. Psychic Lash: Neuroactive nanites allow for a psychic assault on a living target within visual range. The victim must save versus Mental Effect or suffer 2d10 damage and be Dazed for one round. Using this power costs 1 System Strain. Precognitive Flash: For the cost of 1 System Strain, you can focus to discern whether the action you are about to take is likely to result in your physical injury within the next round. If the GM is uncertain, the result is ambiguous. Quarrelsome: You can control yourself around fellow PCs and friends, but others that contradict you or defy your wishes infuriate you. You won’t necessarily attack, but you suffer a -3 penalty on all social skill checks with them that don’t involve intimidation. Quick Healing: You can naturally heal one hit point per hour. Activating this power costs 1 System Strain for every 12 hours. Radar Sense: You have natural radar, and can “feel” the contours of your surroundings out to 20 meters. You can identify specific people by their contours, but more precise details cannot be determined. Radioactive Vitality: Radiation fuels your nanite infection. You are immune to radiation damage, cannot be further mutated by it, and heal 1d6 hit points of damage every time you would otherwise need to make a radiation saving throw. Reactive Armor: Your skin is chancred with toxic buboes or jagged surfaces. If struck with a natural weapon such as a punch or claw, your attacker takes 1d6 damage. Reflective Integument: Your skin is strong and reflective, and you take half damage, rounded down, from lasers, plasma, or other thermal or light attacks. Resilient Body: After failing a saving throw, you can spend 3 System Strain to instead succeed. Self-Sustaining: Automatically subtract one Hunger, Thirst, and Toxin point from your totals at a cost of 1 System Strain. Shapeshifter: You can alter your appearance to mimic that of any humanoid creature within 50% of your height or weight. This transformation can conceal your mutation flaws, though some mutation benefits may be unavailable if you eliminate the physical structures that allow them. Maintaining the transformation costs 1 System Strain per 12 hours of disguise. Slime Buffer: You have a slimy or oily exudate layer that has a powerful antiseptic and neutralizing effect on toxic agents. You are immune to acids, diseases, and contact toxins. In a fight, you ignore your first round of damage from a heat source, whether a bonfire, laser, plasma gun, or flamethrower. Sonic Shaper: You can baffle and shape sonic energy around you, perfectly mimicking any animal cry or human voice. You can create sounds or words at a volume up to a human shout up to 20 meters away, or stifle the noise you make so as to gain a +2 bonus on Stealth. Stinger: You can inject a toxin into a target within melee range on a successful hit, doing 1d6 damage immediately and 1d6 more each round afterward until they succeed on a Physical Effect saving throw. This attack uses Combat/Unarmed or Combat/ Primitive and either the Strength or Dexterity attribute modifier. Temperature Resistance: Ignore temperature extremes. Normal climatic ranges are always resisted, but damaging lasers, plasma, or other thermal hazards at a cost of 2 System Strain per round. Toxic Breath: You may spend 1 System Strain point to expel a gust of toxic gas in a 3 x 3 meter cloud lasting one round. You are immune to the gas, but others must save versus Tech or suffer 1d6+your Constitution modifier in damage. Tracker’s Nose: You can track by scent much like a bloodhound. If the prey intentionally seeks to obscure its trail, make an opposed roll between their Int/Stealth and your Wis/Survival skills for each day you trail them. You gain +2 on all foraging skill checks. Universal Immunity: Redundant systems allow you to ignore any disease and throw off any toxin. You are immune to disease and you can automatically throw off any toxins for 1 System Strain. Vengeful: You have a marrow-deep obsession with revenge. During combat, you must attack the last person to injure you unless you make a saving throw versus Mental Effect or spend 1 System Strain. Wrathful: You must succeed on a Mental Effect saving throw to break off combat while enemies still stand unless 1 System Strain point is spent.