TECHNOPATHY POWER
(TECH HIJACK, SUPER
HACKING)
This is the super hacking power so often
referenced in movies written by people whose familiarity with computers and
computer programs begins and ends with word processing. It is also the ability to extended one’s senses
through the increasingly sophisticated and increasingly prevalent machines
found in our world. The user can see through television cameras, hear through
phone lines, communicate through any device connected a computer network. If
it’s plugged in or hooked up or in any way wired, it’s a part of the user’s
neural network. This is a cropped version of OBJECT ANIMATION, although it
coveys no extra senses nor awareness to its targets. It is the second gear of
the TECHNOSENSORY super sense. The
user senses as the machine senses.
Mechanics: This power is
primarily defined by range. At any level, the power gives the ability to
command computer controlled or automated objects, even ones with complex
passwords and security. The user comes off not merely as some kind of machine
trying to communicate with another machine, but rather as commands issued from
the device’s own systems. The user can turn things on or off and order the
machine to do anything it can normally or potentially do. And the user can
order the machine to cover the user’s tracks.
Being inside a machine or its program does
not immediately convey any knowledge of either. Assuming the character has no
familiarity with the target, a stunt roll is made using the power’s level as
the active level and (1) a randomly determined level from Below Average to
Heroic, for normal objects and (2) a level from Mutant to Omega, for extranormal
devices. Some familiarity with the target may adjust the odds.
This power specifically does not give
the user the ability to hijack devices or machines belonging to, in the use of
or in the immediate possession of another extranormal person. You at least have
to take the utility belt off the guy before you can work your magic.
Only machines with sentience (an IQ
score) or protected by extranormal means have the capacity to resist the user’s
power. Even on devices with supernatural protection, this power acts as a form
of EMPATHY. Automated
things are inclined to like our user. That said, the ability conveys no real
way to overcome such defenses—at least instantly. The user would need to apply
some other talent or skill to get past the protection of extranormal items.
This power is more of an at whim extension of the character’s senses than it is
a skill set.
Power cost 10 points plus ACT. It has an
effective range of ACT in meters. Range on devices such as computer networks or
security systems can be difficult to determine. Conventionally, once you get
into a closed network or integrated security system, you have control of all of
it, no matter how much physical space it takes up. Range here is defined as
range to a controlling access point. Taking down a computer system or a cell phone
or any singular device is well within the standard reach of this power. Taking
down the entire internet or every cell network in the world is not. Not for
just 10 points plus ACT. Which brings us to…
Options:
Control
on all automated targets within range: Doubles power cost.
Range
Extension:
1 point per meter.
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