INTRINSIC QUALITIES, POWERS AND QUANTITIES

QUALITIES AND POWERS

It is possible for characters to have Qualities and Powers as in the creature and item creation rules, with the approval of the GM. These are basically enhanced abilities intrinsic to the character, 'super-powers' to an extent, and have points costs as follows:

• QUALITIES:
  • A 1 point Quality costs 5 points to have intrinsic to a character.
  • A 2 point Quality costs 10 points to have intrinsic to a character.
  • A 4 point Quality costs 15 points to have intrinsic to a character.

• POWERS:
  • A 1 point Power costs 10 points to have intrinsic to a character.
  • A 2 point Power costs 15 points to have intrinsic to a character.
  • A 4 point Power costs 20 points to have intrinsic to a character.

These costs are based upon the cost to confer the given power or quality, rounded to the nearest five points, with modifications based on my take on things.

Obviously not all Powers or Qualities can be intrinsic to characters, but are instead covered by their statistics, or other powers (such as Pattern or Magic), or with things which can only be bought as items (such as a Trump Deck). The Qualities and Powers which are allowed for Real (that is, Amberite or Chaosite) characters are:

• QUALITIES:
  • Mobility (slow levitation only, basically)
  • Double Speed
  • Engine Speed
  • Resistant to Normal Weapons
  • Resistant to Firearms
  • Extra Hard
  • Double Damage
  • Ranged Psychic Sensitivity
  • Enhanced Senses

• POWERS:
  • Rapid Healing
  • Regeneration
  • Cosmetic Changes
  • Alternate Form
  • Named and Numbered Forms
  • Limited Shapeshift (note that this is vastly inferior to full Shapeshifting, and includes no healing abilities)
  • Hard-Wired Spell (the cost on this as an intrinsic power could easily be reduced if the spell only works, for the character, in a small number of shadows)

Note that some Qualities and Powers may be allowable as intrinsic abilities for non-Amberites and non-Chaosites. These could include things such as shadow movement Powers (for example, needing the 'Follow Shadow Path' Power to navigate the shadow paths around Amber if one is not of the Royal Blood. More on this can be found elsewhere.

ITEM QUANTITIES AS POWERS

I do not really agree with 'Cross-Shadow Environmental' or 'Ubiquitous in Shadow' as item quantities. They seem, in general, just too unlikely. However, inspired by the character Jay in Trish Hart's Amber game, who seems to have contacts in half the bars in all of shadow, I can see how these item quantities could be used as, effectively, powers.

As an example, suppose that all non-living items take in psychic impressions, which gives them a form of intelligence and this can be interrogated by someone with the power. This could be brought in the following way:

• Able to 'Speak' (for intelligence): 1 point
• Psychic Sensitivity (to allow mental communication): 1 point
• Psychic Neutral (so this effect is hard to detect): 2 points
• Ubiquitous in Shadow: x 6 cost

Total Cost = (1 + 1 + 2) x 6 = 24 points

If only a subset of items (say weapons, or books) can be interrogated then the 'Cross-Shadow Environmental' multiplier (of times five) might be applied instead.

This could also be used to give a character, for example, 'Power Over All Cats' ('Cross-Shadow Environmental') or 'Power Over All Animals' ('Ubiquitous in Shadow'), probably in combination with enhancements to any given creature so that they were more useful to the character.

Go The Creature and Item Creation Page.

Or go back to My Amber Page.