Psychic Merits

Psychic Merits
Note: these are largely reserved for characters that are not members of the Conspiracies, as a game balance measure. In particular, they are most common among members of the Keepers of the Source.

Death Sight (••••)
Effect: Your medium can see dead people. The psychic may perceive and communicate with any ghost she encounters.

The power allows only perception of and communication with ghosts in Twilight — ghosts tied to the material world and not to any otherworldly spirit world. The power affords no ability to contact spirits from the Shadow Realm that have entered the material world and that exist in Twilight.

This Merit does not permit the psychic to aid ghosts in manifesting in the physical world (which requires the Ghost-Calling Merit). Most ghosts instinctively realize when a mortal can perceive them, and psychics who possess this power are often inundated by requests from desperate beings seeking help to resolve their earthly affairs.

Cost: None. This ability is automatic.

Biokinesis (• to •••••)
Effect: Your character has the ability to psychically alter her biological material. By spending a Willpower point and concentrating for a full minute, she gains a number of bonus dots to allocate Physical Attributes equal to (half this merit, rounded up). She can also shift one dot per dot in this Merit from one attribute to another, though this cannot raise an Attribute higher than five dots. In addition, the character heals quickly. Halve all healing times. These effects can last for up to one hour.

Aura Reading (•••)
Effect: Your character has the psychic ability to perceive auras; the ephemeral halos of energy that surround all living things. This allows her to perceive a subject’s emotional state, and potentially any supernatural nature. The colors of an aura show a person’s general disposition, and the ebbs, flows, tone, and other oddities reveal other influences. Note that your character may not know what she’s looking at when seeing something odd in an aura.

For example, she may not know that a pale aura means she’s seeing a vampire, unless she’s confirmed other vampiric auras in the past. To activate Aura Reading, spend a point of Willpower and roll Wits + Empathy – the subject’s Composure. Perceiving an aura takes an uninterrupted moment of staring, which could look suspicious even to the unaware.

For every success, ask the subject’s player one of the following questions. Alternatively, take +1 on Social rolls against the character during the same scene, due to the understanding of their emotional state.
 * What’s your character’s most prominent emotion?


 * Is your character telling the truth?
 * What is your character’s attention most focused on right now?


 * Is your character going to attack?
 * What emotion is your character trying most to hide?

Drawback: Because of your character’s sensitivity to the supernatural, she sometimes appears to know “a little too much.” No more than once per chapter, when first meeting a supernatural creature the Storyteller can roll Wits + Occult for the creature, penalized by your character’s Composure. If successful, they get a strange feeling that your character is aware of their nature. They’re not forced to behave in any particular way, but it could cause complications.
 * Is your character supernatural or otherwise not human?

Telekinesis (• to •••••)
Effect: Your character has a psychic ability to manipulate the physical world with her mind. This means lifting, pushing, and pulling objects. Fine manipulation is beyond the scope of Telekinesis. By spending a Willpower point, she can activate Telekinesis for the scene.

Her dots in this Merit determine her mind’s effective Strength for the purpose of lifting and otherwise influencing her environment. A telekinetic can use her abilities to cause harm by lashing out at threats. Each “attack” costs a point of Willpower. The dice pool to attack is Telekinesis + Occult, penalized by the opponent’s Stamina.

The attack causes bashing damage. Alternatively, it can be used to grapple, with the Merit dots representing the Strength score of the psychic. Any overpowering maneuvers require additional Willpower points.

Drawback: Any time your character suffers injury or intense stimuli, the Storyteller may call for a Resolve + Composure roll to resist activating Telekinesis at an inopportune time.

If the Storyteller calls for this roll and it fails, the character activates Telekinesis in a quick, impressive display of the power. That use of Telekinesis is free.

Psychometry (•••)
Effect: Psychometry is the psychic ability to read impressions left on physical objects. Your character can feel the emotional resonance left on an item or can perceive important events tied to a location with this ability. The ability automatically hones in on the most emotionally intense moment tied to the item.

Spend a Willpower point to activate Psychometry. The successes scored on a Wits + Occult roll determine the clarity of the visions. For each success, you may ask a single yes/ no question of the Storyteller, or one of the following questions. For questions pertaining to specific characters, if your character hasn’t met the persons in question, the Storyteller may simply describe them.
 * •  What’s the strongest emotion here?
 * •  Who remembers this moment the most?
 * •  Am I missing something in this scene?
 * •  Where was this object during the event?
 * •  What breaking point caused the event?

Suggested Modifiers:
 * Character has read impressions from this item before (–2),


 * important event happened more than one day ago (–1),


 * more than one week ago (–2),


 * more than one month ago (–3),


 * more than one year ago (–5),


 * item was used in a violent crime (+2),


 * item is only vaguely tied to the event (–2),

Drawback: Once per chapter, the Storyteller can force a Psychometry vision any time an important place is visited or an important item is touched. This doesn’t require a roll or Willpower point to activate. The Storyteller can give any information pertaining to the event in question. The Storyteller can also impose one Condition relevant to the event.
 * spirits pertaining to the event are nearby (+3)

Psychokinesis (••• or •••••)
Effect: Your character has a psychic ability to manipulate the forces of the universe. Every type of Psychokinetic is different. For example, your character might have Pyrokinesis, Cryokinesis, or Electrokinesis, the control of fire, cold, or electricity respectively. This is not an exhaustive list.

She can intensify, shape, and douse her particular area of ability. With the three-dot version, some of the given force must be present for her to manipulate. With the five-dot version, she can manifest it from nothingness.

Spend a point of Willpower to activate Psychokinesis and roll Resolve + Occult. Each success allows a degree of manipulation: choose one of the following options below. If you intend to cause harm with the roll, subtract the victim’s Resolve from the Resolve + Occult roll.

If characters should be harmed without a direct attack — if they run through a patch of flame for example — the three-dot version of the Merit causes one lethal damage and the five-dot version causes two. The Storyteller may rule that larger manifestations cause more, if the situation calls for it
 * Increase or decrease the Size of the manifestation by one.


 * Move the manifestation a number of yards equal to your character’s Willpower dots times 2.

shape.
 * Shape the force into a specific form. This may require an Intelligence + Crafts roll to form into a detailed or intricate

Psychokinesis is a weapon causing 1L damage. Psychokinesis is considered a 2L weapon with the five dot version.
 * Attack a victim with the force. Allocate any number of the rolled successes to cause harm. With the three-dot Merit,

ability to power an electronic device briefly or jumpstart a stalled automobile. enlarged with further successes. Drawback: Whenever your character depletes her last Willpower point, the Storyteller can call on her abilities to manifest spontaneously. Resist this with a Resolve + Composure roll, with a –2 penalty if her chosen force is prominently featured nearby. For example, the penalty applies if a Pyrokinetic is locked in a factory with a hot forge. This tends to happen during wildly inconvenient moments and in ways that tend to cause more trouble than they solve. With these wild manifestations, use of Psychokinesis does not cost Willpower.
 * Use the force creatively. This is up to the situation and the force in question. For example, an Electrokinetic may use her
 * Manifest her force. This only works with the five-dot version. It manifests a Size 1 patch of the force. It may spread or be

Telepathy (••• or •••••)
Effect: Your character can hear surface thoughts and read minds. With the five-dot version of this Merit, she can broadcast simple messages to others’ minds. She hears these thoughts as if they were spoken, which means they can sometimes be distracting.

She could only hear thoughts at the range she could hear normal conversation, regardless of any ambient noise (so a telepath could hear the thoughts of someone next to her at a loud concert, even though she couldn’t actually hear the subject talk, but could not hear the thoughts of someone a football field away under quiet conditions).

Spend a point of Willpower to activate Telepathy and roll Wits + Empathy, minus the subject’s Resolve + Supernatural Advantage if the subject is unwilling. If successful, the subject’s player must tell you the foremost thought on the character’s mind. Additional successes allow you to ask the subject’s player additional questions from the following list.

The questions can be asked any time within the same scene.

With the five-dot version, every success offers a single phrase the subject hears as if your character said it. As before, these phrases can be communicated at any time during the same scene.
 * What does your character want right now?
 * What does your character fear most right now?
 * What is your character actively hiding [relating to topic at hand]?


 * What does your character want mine to do?
 * What does your character know about [relevant topic at hand]?

Drawback: Sometimes, your character hears things she probably shouldn’t. Once per chapter, the Storyteller can give your character a message of terrible things to come. Perhaps she overhears the mad internal ramblings of a cultist in a crowd. Maybe she hears a plot to hijack a plane.
 * What turns your character on right now?
 * What’s something shameful or embarrassing about your character [relating to topic at hand]?

Maybe, just maybe, she hears the incoherent thoughts of the God-Machine. These heard thoughts never just occur. They always happen when your character has something else, something important, something pressing going on. When this happens, the Storyteller gives you a Condition such as Spooked or Shaken.

Telepathic Rapport (•••)
Prerequisite: Telepathy (•••••)

The telepath can establish a permanent telepathic connection with the mind of another person, allowing the character to form a psychic link with the subject from anywhere in the world. This Merit can be taken multiple times to reflect having more than one rapport- each bond after the first may be formed with the expenditure of a Willpower dot.

The other party may never sever the rapport once it’s formed, but the telepath may voluntarily end it, still losing the Willpower dot spent. Only the character who possesses this Merit can freely initiate telepathic communication, and the other party must develop this Merit himself in order to initiate a link on his own, assuming he is even someone capable of doing so.

A telepathic rapport cannot be forged with an unwilling target, or with someone the psychic doesn’t know closely. Once the link is achieved, the telepath can activate the rapport without a roll.

Also, if anyone with whom a telepath has a rapport experiences intense emotion, such as being in great danger, the telepath may be able to sense the emotion at any distance with a reflexive Wits + Empathy roll. This roll should be made by the Storyteller.

Cost: 1 Willpower point per scene to activate communication with a single subject Dice Pool: Wits + Empathy (rolled by the Storyteller) to know when the other party is in danger or undergoes intense emotion

Action: Reflexive

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The telepath grossly misinterprets the emotions experienced by the other party.

Failure: The telepath fails to sense the other party’s emotional state.

Success: The telepath intuitively knows that the other party is experiencing pain, fear or some other intense emotion.

Exceptional Success: The telepath gains limited insight into exactly what situation the other party faces, even if the subject is unable to communicate such information directly. For example, instead of simply knowing that the other experiences fear, the telepath knows he is afraid of a pack of guard dogs that pursues him. If the subject experiences pain, the telepath realizes he has just been stabbed. Also, the telepath has an intuitive idea of where the other party is.

Psychic Invisibility (•••••)
Prerequisites: Telepathy (•••••)

As the name suggests, Psychic Invisibility represents a psychic’s ability to “cloud men’s minds” so that onlookers cannot perceive him. The character is not truly invisible; cameras are not affected by this power and anyone sufficiently perceptive can see through the deception.

The psychic cannot disappear from view if he has already been seen, but any witnesses he encounters after the power is activated are typically unable to see him unless he does something to call attention to himself.

If the psychic affects any physical object while a potential observer is looking, or he makes any particularly loud sound, the invisibility ends automatically for observers. Also, the character must maintain concentration for the duration of the power’s use.

He loses his Defense and can take no actions other than moving up to Speed in a turn.

Cost: 1 Willpower

Dice Pool: Intelligence + Stealth versus an observer’s Resolve + Supernatural Advantage (resistance is reflexive). If a mob is affected, make one roll for the group using the highest dice pool of its members.

Action: Contested, and requires concentration

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The psychic is convinced that she is invisible and acts accordingly, even though any onlookers are able to see her.

Failure: The psychic fails to hide her appearance.

Success: The psychic activates her psychic invisibility power. If anyone in a group points the character out, all onlookers can see her.

Exceptional Success: The psychic no longer needs to concentrate to maintain invisibility and can take other actions (although any interaction with her environment may end the effect). If she performs no actions, the effect lasts for the remainder of the scene.

Psychic Illusions (•••••)
Prerequisites: Telepathy (•••••)

Effect: The telepath causes the subject to see something that isn’t there, or to misapprehend some element of his surroundings. The telepath must be able to see the person to be affected, although clairvoyance can substitute for direct observation. Cameras and videotapes are never affected by a psychic illusion.

The illusions created can affect any sense; by default only one sense is affected, and each additional sense affected imposes a –1 penalty to the roll. The player’s Manipulation + Persuasion roll is resisted by the Composure + Supernatural Advantage of any observers (roll the highest pool for a mob of onlookers) in a contested action.

Theoretically, the illusionist can fool any number of people with a particular illusion, but the maximum number of people who can easily be affected at the same time equals the psychic’s Intelligence + Manipulation. Each additional person imposes a –1 penalty to the activation roll.

Thus, the more people who are present, the greater the likelihood that some or all are able to see through the deception. Normally, an illusion is static and cannot interact with beings.

If the illusionist wishes his visions to interact with someone who is deceived by them (such as having a “phantom police officer” direct observers away from a crime scene), the player must roll Wits + Persuasion as an instant action.

If this roll fails, onlookers see through the illusion, even if they had been previously fooled. Such follow-up rolls are only required when the illusion must be made to interact with an observer in a fairly direct manner.

So, if the interactive police officer fools an observer, a reroll is required only if the observer actively tries to engage the police office somehow (whether through communication or an attack), or if the psychic wishes to have the police officer interact in some new and different way, such as writing a ticket.

Regardless of how convincing an illusion is, it is never solid, although it “feels” solid to a deceived observer if the illusionist incorporates tactile sensations into the creation.

Dice Pool: Manipulation + Persuasion versus the target’s Composure + Supernatural Advantage to create illusions (resistance is reflexive). Wits + Persuasion to manipulate existing illusions.

Cost: 1 Willpower. Also, the character must maintain concentration for the duration of the illusion, meaning that he can take no action other than moving Speed per turn, and he loses his Defense.

Action: Contested to activate; instant to manipulate

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The character triggers psychic feedback, making every potential observer in the vicinity instinctively withdraw or distrust her. Also, the illusionist is unable to use this power again for the remainder of the scene.

Failure: The psychic fails to create any illusion at all.

Success: Any affected targets perceive whatever sensory effect the psychic desires.

Exceptional Success: The illusions created are highly realistic. The psychic no longer needs to maintain concentration, although a Wits + Persuasion roll must still be made to cause the illusion to move or react in any way.

Animal Empathy (•• or ••••)
Effect: Although Animal Empathy is sometimes considered a rare gift, some parapsychologists speculate that it is more common than it appears, since the average observer cannot readily distinguish between a psychic with the innate ability to communicate with non-sentient creatures and an ordinary “horse whisperer” who is simply “good with animals.”

The two-dot version allows a psychic to affect a single species of animal such as dogs, cats or rats.

The four-dot version permits a psychic to affect any type of animal.

Either version can allow a psychic to affect multiple animals at once, although the power usually inflicts a dice penalty on a roll. Also, a psychic attempting to control large numbers of animals at one time must give the same instructions to all of them, and cannot send different animals off on individual missions without a separate roll for each of them.

There is also a separate Merit called Animal Rapport that creates a permanent psychic link with a single animal. No version of this power can affect truly sentient animals or other beings that have transformed into animals.

Cost: None if the psychic has time to interact with the animal and achieve some kind of rapport. If the psychic has never seen the animal before or it is currently hostile, one Willpower point must be spent to instantly seize control of the animal. One point of Willpower must be spent to control multiple animals simultaneously.

Action: Instant or contested

Dice Pool: Wits + Animal Ken to communicate. Manipulation + Animal Ken (versus animal’s Resolve rolled reflexively) to control.

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The character triggers psychic feedback in the animal, making it immediately hostile. Further attempts to use Animal Empathy against the animal fail automatically for the remainder of the scene.

Failure: The character fails to influence the animal in any way. Success: The psychic can intuitively understand the animal’s mood and thought processes. Although true communication is not yet possible, the psychic can intuit crude impressions such as “I’m hungry,” “I want to play” or “That man beats me.” With Manipulation, the psychic can command the animal to follow simple instructions such as “Heel,” “Fetch” or “Tear him apart!” Animals that were previously hostile become docile, and trained guard dogs let an intruder walk right by.

Exceptional Success: The psychic can freely communicate with the animal, almost to the point of sharing its senses. The psychic can also give relatively complex instructions and expect them to be obeyed, such as “Go fetch Timmy! He’s in town at the movie theater, in the third row!”

Animal Possession (••••)
Prerequisites: Animal Empathy •• or ••••.

If the psychic has only the two-dot version of Animal Empathy, he is limited to possessing the type of animal with which he is attuned. The four-dot version allows possession of any type of animal.

Effect: Animal Possession builds on the power of Animal Empathy to actually allow a psychic to possess a particular animal, totally controlling its body and perceiving through all of its senses.

The psychic’s own body is completely inert and helpless while this power is in effect, and she cannot perceive anything about her body’s surroundings unless the possessed animal is nearby.

If the character’s body is damaged, though, she knows it and can reflexively end the possession after taking any damage, although she may be subject to a killing blow in the duration of the possession. If the animal is killed during the possession, the psychic’s mind is immediately sent back to her body.

Possession lasts for one scene, but can be extended at the cost of one Willpower point per scene. This power cannot be used against sentient creatures, including mages, vampires or werewolves who have simply assumed the forms of animals.

Cost: 1 Willpower

Dice Pool: Presence + Animal Ken versus animal’s Resolve; resistance is reflexive

Action: Contested

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The character triggers psychic feedback in the animal, making it immediately hostile. Further attempts to use Animal Possession against the animal fail automatically for the remainder of the scene.

Failure: The character fails to possess the animal.

Success: The psychic projects his own consciousness into the animal, totally controlling its body and replacing its Mental (but not Social) Attributes with his own. The psychic cannot use any other psychic powers while possessing the animal, although he can end the possession at any time. The animal’s Physical Traits prevail.

Exceptional Success: The psychic can maintain the possession for up to the lesser of his Stamina or Resolve in hours without paying any additional Willpower.

Clairvoyance (•••)
Effect: Your character can project her senses to another location. She sees, hears, smells, and otherwise experiences the other place as if she were there. This ability requires a point of Willpower to activate, successful meditation, and a Wits + Occult roll.

Suggested Modifiers:
 * Has an object important to the place (+1),


 * never been there (–3),


 * scrying for a person and not a place (–3),


 * scrying for non-specific location (–4),


 * spent significant time there (+2),

Drawback: When choosing this ability, determine how your character is able to scry. It may be through a crystal ball, through a drug-induced trance, with esoteric computer models, or any other method. She cannot scry without that tool or methodology.
 * touching someone with a strong connection to the place (+1)

Astral Projection (•••)
Prerequisites: Clairvoyance.

Effect: Astral Projection allows a clairvoyant to completely free his consciousness from his physical form and travel mentally to distant locations while leaving his body behind. The psychic must first enter a trance state. Then, the player makes a reflexive Stamina + Composure roll to determine how long the character can remain away from his body.

Once separated, the psychic can instantly travel to any location he is capable of perceiving with a normal Clairvoyance roll. Once at a desired location, a psychic can move around freely but is generally intangible and invisible.

Other astral projectors or other beings existing in Twilight — an ephemeral state in the material world, such as a ghost’s — can perceive him normally. The clairvoyant can return to his body reflexively.

If the psychic’s physical body is tampered with while he is “gone,” the he may sense the intrusion with a successful Intelligence + Composure roll. The psychic always feels actual pain inflicted on his physical body and may react accordingly. However, an astral projector’s physical body may be subjected to a killing blow if the body is left unprotected.

While astrally projecting, a psychic is free to use any other ESP or telepathic Merit he possesses.

Cost: 1 Willpower to project. None to navigate.

Dice Pool: Stamina + Composure (to determine the duration of the projection). Wits + Composure (to navigate astrally to the desired location)

Action: Extended to enter the trance state. Instant to release the astral form and navigate to the desired location.

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The psychic is rendered unable to use his Astral Projection power until he has rested for at least eight hours. A dramatic failure on a navigation roll means he is lost and has traveled to some unintended and possibly dangerous location. Failure: The psychic fails to project, but can try again. A failure on the navigation roll means that the ESPer has missed his destination, but is close enough to try again.

Success: The psychic can maintain his astral form for up to 10 minutes per success. A success on the navigation roll means that he finds the location he was seeking.

Exceptional Success: The psychic maintains his astral form for the duration of his trance. An exceptional success on a navigation roll gives the psychic a +2 bonus on all Perception rolls while at the desired location, as well as a +1 bonus on any other psychic powers used astrally.

Postcognition (•••)
Prerequisites: Clairvoyance (•••)

Effect: Your psychic has the ability to see into the past. If the roll to activate this power is successful, you are allowed to ask a variable number of questions about a past event based on your successes.

The effort suffers a dice penalty based on temporal proximity, and the Storyteller should always roll for the player who uses Postcognition, since the player may be able to deduce when something might have occurred by noting the penalty applied, even if the roll is unsuccessful. Each success on the roll allows the player to ask one question about the past event viewed.
 * Dice Modifier Proximity


 * 0            Within a day


 * –1         Within a week


 * –2           Within a month


 * –3           Within a year


 * –4           Within 5 years


 * –5          Within 10 years

Each 10-year increment intensifies the dice penalty by –1.

The effort faces additional penalties if the character lacks any sort of sympathetic connection to the scene he wishes to view. If the psychic is present at the location where the past event took place, he suffers no penalty.

If he is in the presence of a person who was present at the past event, the player suffers a –2 penalty.

If the psychic is in possession of an object that was present at the scene of the past event, he suffers a –4 penalty. At the Storyteller’s discretion, these penalties might be reduced, depending on the situation.

For example, if a psychic attempts to view a violent murder by handling the murder weapon, he might suffer only a –2 penalty, while touching the actual murderer could eliminate any penalty.

Cost: 1 Willpower

Dice Pool: Wits + Occult

Action: Instant

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The seer has a wildly false or misleading vision. Since the Storyteller makes the roll on the player’s behalf, allow the player to ask an arbitrary number of questions, say one to three, and invent erroneous or misleading information about the scene observed.

Failure: Failure indicates that the seer fails to produce a vision.

Success: The character has a postcognitive vision. The player may ask one question about the vision per success. No more than one successful vision about a specific scene may be had every 24 hours.

Exceptional Success: Additional successes are their own reward. The Storyteller may point out significant details about which the player does not think to ask.

Precognition (••••)
Prerequisites: Clairvoyance (•••)

Effect: Precognition represents the power to predict the future. This power is perhaps the most difficult to incorporate into games, and the Storyteller should proceed cautiously. Precognition is also difficult for characters to use properly.

While precognitive visions might give a psychic a clear vision of a future event, the future changes constantly based on people’s actions. Thus, when a psychic receives a completely “accurate” vision of the future, time remains in flux, and a seer can never be entirely sure whether his actions in response to the vision will prevent the it from coming to pass or ensure that it will do so. Even with an exceptional success, a character’s vision can still be distorted, blurry or possibly even wrapped in symbolism, particularly in the case of dream precognition or precognition though a focus.

Characters must generally use the Occult Skill to interpret what they perceive. A precog can never predict the immediate future (i.e., what will happen next within the current scene). A roll to see the future suffers a penalty based on temporal proximity, and the Storyteller should always roll for a character who uses Precognition, since the player may be able to deduce when something might occur from noting the penalty applied, even if the roll is unsuccessful. Each success on the roll allows the player to ask one question about the future event.
 * Dice Modifier Proximity


 * 0            Within a day


 * –1         Within a week


 * –2           Within a month


 * –3           Within a year


 * –4           Within 5 years


 * –5          Within 10 years

Each 10-year increment intensifies the dice penalty by –1.

Example: Madame Zora tells the fortune of a young girl who wants to know when she’ll be married, and to whom. The Storyteller knows the girl will most likely get married in about three years, so a –4 penalty is applied to Zora’s dice pool, which is rolled by the Storyteller. Zora gets two successes, and Zora’s player can ask up to two questions about the girl’s wedding. Triggering the vision costs Zora one Willpower point.

Cost: 1 Willpower

Dice Pool: Wits + Occult

Action: Instant

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The seer has a wildly false or misleading vision. Since the Storyteller makes the roll on the player’s behalf, allow him to ask an arbitrary number of questions, say one to three, and invent erroneous or misleading information about the scene observed. Failure:

Failure indicates that the precog fails to produce a vision.

Success: The character has a precognitive vision. The player may ask one question about the vision per success. No more than one successful vision about a specific scene may be had every 24 hours.

Exceptional Success: Additional successes are their own reward. The Storyteller may point out significant details about which the player does not think to ask.