These rules apply to "Roswell High - The Next Generation", an RPoL game based on Unisystem Classic rules as published by Eden Studios.
The Witchcraft RPG, a complete corebook for the system, is available as a free download from the Eden Studios web site.
As the game is a PBP, some RPoL-specific rules are used.
The Optional Skill Points System is used. The basic score for Skills is the standard amount minus five.
At p. 141 of the Armageddon core book, p. 154 of the Witchcraft core book, replace the words "reduced to half his Essence Pool" with "whose Essence Pool is reduced below half the sum of his Attributes".
Using a Good Luck point before a roll, the player can decide to "Take 6" - that is, automatically roll a 6 on a Task or Test. Additional Good Luck points can be added, up to the character's Good Luck limit: each of them will raise the die roll by 1. After reaching 10, the player can roll another die. Good Luck points can also be added to the final result, each one raising the total by 1.
By converse, using a Bad Luck point before a roll, the GM can decide to have the player automatically roll a 4 on a Task or Test. Additional Bad Luck points can be added, up to the character's Bad Luck limit: each of them will lower the result by 1. After reaching 1, a Rule of One die is rolled. Bad Luck points can also be added to the final result, each one lowering the total by 1.
Also, Good/Bad Luck points can be spent to have a fixed score in a damage roll: if one point is spent, use the fixed number provided by the standard rules and add or subtract one (depending on whether Good Luck or Bad Luck is used); if two points are spent, the roll is an automatic 1 for Bad Luck, or the die's maximum result for Good Luck.
These rules can also be applied in reverse, if players need their characters to roll low - or the Chronicler needs the PC to roll high.
Characters with an amount of Essence higher than the sum of their Attributes can opt to spend one permanent Essence point before a roll, to increase the final result by 5 points or automatically roll a 10, at their discretion (the latter option does not entitle the character to roll a Rule of Ten die, though). The maximum number of Essence points that can be spent in such a way is half the character's Willpower, rounded up: each point after the first increases the total by 5 points; Good Luck bonuses may also be added normally to the final result.
No use of this power can bring the character's permanent Essence pool below the sum of its Attributes. Points lost this way can be regained by acquiring levels of post-character creation Increased Essence, at the normal cost; this applies to non-Powered characters as well, although they can only regain lost points, not increase their total above the original level.
All characters based on the Powered template can channel up to one point of Essence per Willpower level, plus three, into their powers, to temporarily (1 Turn) raise their Strength level. Two Essence points raise the Strength level by one. They also regain Essence faster than normal humans, at the rate of twelve points per Willpower level per hour, or Willpower per five minutes. Additionally, they can buy normal levels of Essence Channeling.
Powered characters can join forces to perform extended tasks: characters who know the power being used add their Strength to the group's level; those who don't add half of the Strength of their strongest power (rounded down) to the total. All Tasks are performed by the character with the highest Art level in the power used. Essence or Endurance expenditures required by the task (for instance, when the leader fails the Willpower roll while healing someone) may be drawn from any of the participants.
All PC's are created from the Norm (15/5/25) or Beginning Gifted/Powered (15/5/20/5) templates, using the Optional Skill Points System (the Skill total presented in the parentheses is already the correct base amount). Grown-ups get five additional Skill points.
All Powered PC's start with a 2-point Teenager Drawback, and most of them will probably have the Misfit Drawback as well (which is worth 2 points: they will get a -1 to all social rolls, and those with a Strength of 2 or less will be bound to be picked on by jocks). These Drawbacks counts toward the normal 10-point limit. Possessing superpowers is obviously a Secret, but this is already factored in the Quality's cost and doesn't count towards the Drawback limit. Powered characters may also opt to assign no points to their Strength and/or Constitution Attributes, then raise them (but not above 1) with Drawback points (at a cost of 1 point per Attribute).
Players who want to begin the game with alien powers must create Powered characters from the Beginning Gifted template, buying a 5-point "Powered" Quality (which allows access to psychic powers, Increased Essence, and the special levels of Essence Channeling described above) plus a single Alien Power: each Power uses a separate level of Strength and Art (at the standard cost for psychic powers); beginning PC's may opt to start with their one Art at level 0.
An example of character with Alien Powers is presented in the sidebar; skills have been omitted for simplicity. It is created by assigning no points to Strength and raising it to 1 with one Drawback point, and also raising Constitution from 1 to 2 using two Drawback points (the "+ 3" in the parentheses indicates that three Drawback points have been allocated to Attributes). No points are assigned to the Power's Art level, either, and the remaining three Drawback points are used in the Meta section, to pay for the Power's Strength level.
All the standard non-Supernatural Qualities and Drawbacks from AFMBE are available, as are Good and Bad Luck. The following is a list of additional Qualities and Drawbacks available to PC's and NPC's.
To quote Marge simpson, "sometimes, ordinary people get a surge of adrenaline". This Quality gives the user a temporary boost to his Strength, raising it by one point per level in the Quality, to a maximum total of 7. The duration is one Turn per Constitution and Willpower; it can be used multiple times, but each successive time between sleep periods incurs a -1 penalty to the bonus granted. While the Quality is active, the additional Strength levels grant extra Life Points as per the normal rules, but after the effect ends those points are subtracted again from the remaining total. This may cause an injured user to lose consciousness, or even die, if the damage sustained is high enough.
This power works like Mindheal, except the effective Strength level has a bonus equal to the number of Success Levels in the Task. It also gives the user flashes of the target's memories: although it cannot be used to read the target's mind, it tends to create a strong connection between the healer and the target. The Endurance and Essence losses can bring the user's pool below zero, which can cause the healer's death. If this happens, the user's soul is not Unraveled, but imprinted on the recipient's, and may eventually resurface, taking over the victim's body.
A side effect of this power is that, when used to heal someone from a deadly condition, the target automatically acquires the Powered Quality (for PC's, this must still be paid for with XP). Over time, they will develop some kind of mental power of their own.
The character can move objects with his mind, using the power's Strength, plus the number of Success Levels in the Willpower and Art Task, as the effective Strength. The range is five yards per Willpower and Art.
This power works like Minddream. It can be used on non-sleeping targets, but it requires an intimate knowledge of the target and a variable number of Success Levels, depending on such factors as distance, the target's state of mind, the user's degree of knowledge of the target...
The character can raise a force field with an AV equal to Willpower plus the power's Strength, which stops any objects trying to get through it (from both sides). The shield is fixed in place (the character cannot move while keeping it active) and raising and lowering it counts as an action. Any damage that gets through the Shield is divided by five (rounded up) and subtracted from the character's Essence pool. Once this gets to 0 points, further damage is divided by 2 (rounded down) and subtracted from the character's Endurance Pool. When this falls below 0 as well, the shield falls.
This power normally allows the user to reshape memories and perceptions of the target, but it can also be used to implant orders in the victim's mind, and, if six or more Success Levels are achieved in the activation roll, to cause damage.
Altering perceptions, reshaping memories, and planting orders, work like Mindrule, except illusions use the Power's Strength, not its Art, for the Task; causing damage works as per Mindkill, but the damage roll does not gain any bonuses from high Success Levels and the user does not suffer the "backfire" Essence and Endurance losses.
Multiple targets can be affected at the same time: the maximum number is equal to the user's Strength level in the power, squared. Targeting more than one victim drains the user of two Essence points per target on the first Turn, plus half that amount per minute for long-lasting illusions.
All victims of memory reshapements are entitled to one Resisted Roll per month, against the original Mindwarp Task: if they win, they'll begin to recover their memories.
Continued use of this power on the same target (that is, forcing the victim to live through an illusion lasting several days) causes the victim to lose five Essence points per week, which are not regained until the mindwarp is dropped for several days (at least as long as the the victim originally spent under the influence of the power).
Note that forcing the victim to keep the reshaped memories does not count as continued use, but it doesn't count as dropping the mindwarp, either. Using Mindwarp to restore a memory block on a victim whose Essence has been reduced below half its value causes an additional D10xWIL points of Essence damage (recovered normally): this may kill and Unravel the target in a single blow.
This Power works like Mindfire, except it takes the form of electricity instead of fire; it cannot be used to create a "lightning shield", but it can be used to work against existing power sources (dimming/turning off the lights as well as reducing the multiplier level of any electric damage by one point per Strength and Success Levels in the activation Task). There's also no risk of it running out of control in case of extended use, though it might turn against an already injured user if the roll goes particularly badly (1 or less after all modifiers are taken into account). The effective range for this power is five yards per Willpower and Art at any level of Strength.
This is the power that allows all those nifty tricks the original Roswell kids used to do, such as fixing a ripped shirt, changing the color of a car, causing a snow storm... It always costs Essence and requires a number of Success Levels depending on the desired effect. Higher levels of Strength reduce the Essence cost, which is decided by the Chronicler on a case-by-case basis. Using this power may reduce the user's Essence below zero, which means it should be used with extreme care.
This power uses the standard Mindtime rules from Witchcraft.