Pattern Trump Art JofJ Trump Tricks Logrus
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Shadowlands

Trump Tricks

Powers and Partial Powers

Contents

     B: Basic Power; A: Advanced Power; E: Exalted Power.

Basic Trump Tricks

(Create Trump will convey on the artist these trump trick abilities for 'free' but the ability to create Trumps is NOT required for these trump tricks if the character would rather simply learn the tricks. They represent abilities learned by careful study of how to use Trump, without any inherent facility in making them)

Advanced Trump Tricks

(Note that most of these 'tricks' require Basic Trump Artistry, meaning at least the Create Trump ability, unlike basic tricks)

Exalted Trump Tricks

(Note that these require at least Initiate of the True Image and 20 points of Advanced Trump Artistry to be learned, unlike other tricks)

Sense Trump (05 points)

A character with this ability is able to sense the usage of Trumps in his vicinity. Actual range is dependent upon a great many factors and the GM will be the ultimate arbiter as to whether the character can sense the usage or not. Factors affecting this would include the sensing character's Psyche, the proximity to the Trump user, any and all intervening barriers (including other people), magical wards and the like, etc. Base range is about ten meters times your Psyche conflict points. Additionally, the character will be able to sense the power used on making Trumps. When a character is within a few hundred feet of a Trump being created they will immediately notice this great flux of power (unless the artist has taken special precautions using various wards, scry blocks, Psyche dampers, etc.). Someone who is a Trump Artist is also able to detect the characteristics of a Trump by careful examination. If the creator has an extreme Psychic advantage, any ill effects/traps on the Trump might have a chance to activate. Otherwise, the Artist is informed of the pitfalls.

Trump Defense (05 points)

As in the rulebook.

Trump Caller Identification (05 points)

This power allows the character to tell the identity of a caller, without opening to the contact. Upon receiving a Trump Contact check through your Trump Deck. The card of whoever is making the call will be psychically active (though if another Trump conversation is taking place, this will only narrows down the possibilities). Obviously, this only works if the character happens to have a Trump of the caller. As the character becomes greater attuned with this Power he/she will be able to merely concentrate upon his/her Trump deck to determine the caller's identity (this requires Trump expertise level one, with a total Psyche Conflict points + Trump expertise of 15 or more). Note that this effect requires that the caller has previously been spoken to frequently via Trump so that their Psychic image is well known to the character. If the character is a trump artist, this Skill/Power also enables a character to become familiar with the style and magical 'mark' of a Trump artist. Unless purposefully obscured the character should be able to recognize a new Trump as either one of several artists with which he/she is familiar or as an unknown. If an unknown artist is encountered any subsequent Trumps rendered by the same person would be obvious to the character as being from this particular 'unknown' artist.

Self-Identification (05 points)

This is the ability to identify yourself before the opening of the contact. The person you're trying to call will know that the trump call comes from you.

Trump Portal (03 points)

This is the ability to open a trump portal either using a “Place” Trump or from an established contact with another person such that a gate way is established between the two ends of the connection, allowing movement of other persons or things in either direction. Unlike the Trump Gate ability the portal only remains open for as long as the creator of the portal can maintain concentration on it. The basic portal, which is 1.8m high and 1m wide, takes 6 seconds to form (irrespective of Psyche), and holding it open counts as Extreme Exertion. The portal can be enlarged if the creator desires but each 1% increment in dimensions increases the cost by 10%, so a 1.98m high by 1.1m wide portal would cost Extreme Exertion at 110%, whilst a 2.16m high by 1.2m wide would cost Extreme Exertion at 120%.

Trump Division (02 points)

The ability to open two or more contacts (up to one-half your psyche conflict points) at a time without letting either know party. Each will be aware something is up, but not what.

Trump linking (03 points)

This allows you to link several trump calls together for a conversation, with you as the telecommunications central: everyone must be in trump contact with you. Note that this means that any person in the trump net can attack psychically any other people in it, you included. More so, if you are somewhat incapacitated or unwilling to continue, the trump net will instantly be destroyed.

Identification Jammer (05 points)

When someone tries to use Trump Caller Identification on you, this ability ensures that it won't work by activating all of his Trumps: s/he knows that s/he's receiving a Trump Call, but can't determine from whom.

Trump Blackout (05 points)

Normally during a Trump call, the background and environs of both callers are visible to each other. With this power, you can keep your Trump image from revealing your position - the other person will hear your voice, but the image on the card will remain what was painted on it. Luke demonstrates this power sometimes in the second series. Alternately, the image on the card goes completely black.

Trump Cloak (05 points)

The ability to make the player's own trump or others they have created seems either cold or hot without adjusting its connection ability.

Trump Jamming (05 points)

It's possible, with intense concentration, to jam any one Trump. It requires the actual card of the subject to jam, and counts as Heavy Exertion. Concentrate on a single card and the victim will be blocked from sending or receiving Trump calls. Psyche advantage is not 'required' when using this method if the other person simply gives up. However, should someone "push" the contact, there will be a Psychic battle with the person.

Trump Redirect (05 points)

Alternately, rather than making it impossible to reach a certain person, you can make any trump call to one person actually connect to someone else. The trump of both the blocked person and the target of the redirection are required.

Trump-Call waiting (05 points)

The ability to detect and receive a Trump call, while in the middle of another. The calls can be merged (everyone in contact with everyone else), one call can be halted until the other's complete (although if you're in contact with a high Psyche person, they may detect the call, too), or the call can be blocked. The latter call may even be substituted for the one in progress (that one, then, would either be terminated or put on hold). To get really good at this, 5 more points should be added.

Bypass Call Refuse (05 points)

This power lets you get a Trump contact with someone without giving him or her a chance to refuse. Sound nifty? The drawback is that you have to wait around, listening at their Trump until they call someone else, before you can do this. The way it works is, if they've got a contact via Trump with someone else, their mental Trump 'door' is 'open'. You just add yourself to the conversation as a totally silent third party, and when they end the call, they're still in a Trump contact - with you.

Trump Message (Instant activation + 05 points)

This lets you record a message that plays upon contact with the trump (like a low-power trump link). It lasts for about six hours per Psyche Conflict point. This can of course be combined with other abilities like compulsion, to insert a subliminal gea on a trump. An alternative consists in a message that plays to anyone that tries to contact you (or anyone for whom you possess a trump that you have drawn).

Trump spying (05 points)

There is another level of concentration where you simply observe the operation of Trump. This allows you to overhear conversations as the Trump is being used. However, you must actually touch the specific Trumps. If you have a Trump for only one of the participants in a Trump Contact, you will overhear only what that person says, and will be unable to "hear" the other end of the conversation.

Trump Spying Detection (05 points)

As Trump Caller Identification, but it also detects if someone is trying to use your card for something, such as Trump Spying: if you have the card of the person spying you, s/he will be detected as a Trump Caller would. If you don't.... Well, too bad! You will only detect that someone is spying on you, and only if you have at least a definite advantage (two-time his points) in Psyche finesse.

Trump Search (Trump Caller Identification + 05 points)

Trump search, the ability to follow trump connections in use and identify who the parties are involved are. This detects Trump communications and identifies the parties (if you've got a Trump or psychic impression of them. If not, you'll just know that "someone" is involved), so you can use Trump Spying or another ability.

Trump Security/Subterfuge (05 points)

This Power can be used to cloak Trump conversations from those who might be sensitive to such (a very distinct Psyche advantage by the opposing party would be required to sense such) and make Trump Spying and/or Trump Sensing nearly impossible.

Trump Gate (05 points)

Trump Gate is the ability to create an open doorway from any one place to another. It requires the use of a Trump for the destination point. The Trump is then opened normally, but instead of walking through the Trump the user pours Psychic energy into the connection and reinforces the bridge between the two places. Finally, a temporary doorway from one Shadow to another is created. At least Amber Rank Psyche and Endurance is required to create such a Gate, and the character will be totally exhausted from the effort if at that minimum Attribute requirement. Trump Gates only stay open, unattended, for 10 minutes or so, though if the character wishes he/she may continue to pour more energy into it to maintain it, though even a top-ranked individual would be hard pressed to keep one open for more than 30 minutes. Endurance cost is 2 hours, + 30 minutes per minute over ten.

Trump Filter (05 points)

A Trump gives you the power to control the physical crossing of objects or people through a gate. You can block any person or item, but if you're trying to keep someone from crossing your Trump Gate, s/he can try to force the passage with his/her Brute Psyche.

Shunt Energy (05 points)

With either a trump link opened or a specially made Trump (meaning one with Quick Transport and Instant Activation), you can shut energy through the Trump if you have it facing the attack. And with Living Trump ability, you don't even need a Trump anymore, so long as you're ready to shunt the attack and subscribe to the condition described before.

Shift Perspective (05 points)

The ability to change the trumps focus and to move around within the trump, as well as pulling back or moving closer in the area.

Impromptu Trump Trap (05 points)

By manipulation of the ebb and flow of trump energies in a spied-upon trump contact, the TA could achieve a number of effects. First, the TA would have to have cards for both ends of the connection. Strengthening the pull of one end of the connection while decreasing the strength of the other end, loosening its anchor in Shadow, creates a 'quick and dirty' trump trap that pulls subject A to the location of subject B.

Another variation on this is redirecting a call to a trump trap he is holding, shunting the victim into the limbo of his choice. The artist needs a trump of the 'reroute' location.

Create Trump Loop (Trump Backward + 10 points) >

The ability to make a trump loop. A trump loop places the character inside the trump: you redirect a call to a circuit of two cards depicting each other. The victims are then trapped in a closed system between a trump and another trump, from which they cannot escape without aid, unless they possess the Living Trump power, the Pattern's Teleport ability or else.

Trump pockets (05 points)

The power to create a small pocket of reality linked to a trump, in which you can store items or people. However, such a trump will be much more obvious than a normal trump and a little investigation by someone with Pattern or Logrus sight will reveal the Trump pocket. While they are difficult to destroy from the outside, if the trump who holds them is destroyed, any and all in the pocket are lost forever to this world. Unless, of course, they escape first.

Combine Scenes (15 points)

The ability to use more than one Trump card, then merge their pictures and auras, combining them. This can be done using a person's Trump and that of a place (using the new card would then transport the person to the place) or two places. If they are both Shadows, this creates a new, merged Shadow. If one is Shadow, the other real, some attributes of the real place can be imposed upon the Shadow. If they are both real, well, you're messing with the universe, someone will probably find out, and boy, are you gonna get it!. If they're two people, you'll either merge their minds, impose one mind on the other, or possibly cause someone to think they're someone else, maybe even induce schizophrenia!.

Endurance cost is heavy: 3 hours at first, plus the eventual time passed wrestling with the psyche of the persons involved (this is a Brute Psyche conflict).

Draw Power (15 points)

This extremely powerful ability allows you to take on an aspect of an artefact, creature or people depicted on one of your trumps (you must have drawn it yourself). Anything can be obtained this way, be it an attribute or a power. You can only duplicate one such ability at a time, however, which still makes this VERY potent. Your target's Psyche Finesse Conflict Points (including his eventual Trump Expertise) mustn't be greater than 1.5 times yours. The abilities that require a certain degree of skill can also be imitated, as you draw your power and skill directly from your source.

If you duplicate an attribute, you must say what percentage of your target's abilities you're taking on. If you duplicate a power, you must say precisely what abilities you're taking (so, if you don't know that your target can do a thing, you can't take emulate power).

Activating this ability is fairly fast: about 15 minutes, minus 30 seconds per Psyche Conflict Point over the Amber Rank. Endurance cost is 4 times the activation time at first, plus normal heavy exertion after.

You incur, of course, the risk of losing your identity to what you're taking on power: add one to your target's Psyche CPs per 10 minutes. If this ever becomes greater than twice your own Psyche CPs, you're in trouble.

Also, the drain can be felt by your source of power: Add one to your target's Psyche Finesse CPs for any attribute CP, for any five power points or for any artefact &creature point you're drawing, as well as for any Trump Expertise point s/he's got. If this is greater than twice your own Psyche Finesse, s/he knows that whatever is happening, you're the one doing it. S/He can then engage you in Psychic Battle (a Brute Psyche contest) to try to block you. Otherwise, all s/he knows is that s/he is losing efficiency in abilities equal to 1/5 times what you're draining (for powers, a loss of efficiency considered as a "power inaptitude" of 1/20 points drained).

Trump Chain (Remote Trump Utilization + 05 points)

The ability to trump chain, that is, use a trump in possession of another person if the character is in trump contact with that person.

Trump Image Disguise (05 points)

Allows the artist to intercept a call in process and pose as one of the parties involved in the contact. First, this requires a clear Psyche advantage and a trump of the individual they intend to disguise themselves as. The artist then insulates the subject of one end of the contact from trump energies. That accomplished, the TA channels the energies into the Trump he is holding for that subject, and uses the psychic imprint of that individual contained in the card, to mask his own. In theory, disguised calls could be made in a similar manner.

Disguised call (05 points)

As said before, this is the ability to impersonate someone else when making a trump call. This requires a trump of the person you intend to impersonate.

Advanced Trump spying (10 points)

This allows the artist to spy on a subject's surface thoughts by concentrating on his trump. A subject whose Psyche finesse is higher than yours will detect you, as will one over who you only have a Minimal Advantage (less than one and a half his points) if he has more Good Stuff than you. Even more, you can be detected by a Trump Caller Identification.

Pattern Trump Art JofJ Trump Tricks Logrus
Power Words Sorcery Power and Fatigue Conjuration Inscription
Abyss Items/Artefacts   Chi Powers Shape Shifting