No one knows what they are doing.
That is very much the angle we are looking to push when it comes to Empathy in the first 'era' of Dark Conspiracy. This runs through the coming Core Rulebook, from the 'Mystic' assignment of the Empath career (basically a hippy 'in tune' with the universe, a far cry from the test subjects and military empaths also available) to the paraphysicist field kit.
In battling and chasing Dark Minions, Operatives will have the option to bring a battery of scientific disciplines to the fore. However, they will there are times where science... just does not work.
Empathy is a new field of science, one not understood... at all... and where few of the known disciplines may give much of a lead. This is not going to stop our intrepid Operatives, who have the chance to use (and build their own) paranormal detection equipment.
Paraphysicist Field Kit: The nature of empathy is barely understood, and the ‘science’ based around it is barely worthy of the term. However, something beyond what is understood as natural clearly exists, and so there have been many attempts to create devices to detect and analyse empathic activity with the goal of tracking and combating Dark Minions.
Given that there is no real baseline as to what empathy even is, every paraphysicist field kit is unique, each guided by the vague theories and hypotheses of its creator. Many are based on analysing specific frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum, others focus on ultra- and subsonic detection, while more esoteric devices purport to measure some barely defined ‘aether’ or energy field beyond known science.
What is clear is that the effectiveness of each field kit is the ability of its user to read the results it provides and interpret them. Using a paraphysicist field kit requires a successful Formidable (14+) INT check (1D rounds) or Science (paraphysics) check (1D rounds, INT). This will detect the location and direction of any empathic use or any Dark Minion within 10 metres. The range can be increased by applying DM-2 for every additional 10 metres of range, and timeframes can be adjusted to make the task easier or quicker (see page XX).
As the user comes to understand both the field kit and the nature of empathic detection, their ability to successfully use this equipment improves. Every time the check to use the field kit results in Effect 4+, the user gains a cumulative DM+1 to future checks (to a maximum of DM+6). This bonus is applied only to the specific user when using the specific device – a different user or the same user using a different device must start at DM+0.
Many Operatives eschew paraphysicist field kits built by others and only trust one assembled by their own hands, guided by their own ideas and observations. The parts required to create a field kit require Requisition 7 and need a task chain to assemble, using the following skills:
Failure will result in a pile of useless components as the ideas of the Operative building it are proven completely false. The process must be restarted, with new components requisitioned.
That is very much the angle we are looking to push when it comes to Empathy in the first 'era' of Dark Conspiracy. This runs through the coming Core Rulebook, from the 'Mystic' assignment of the Empath career (basically a hippy 'in tune' with the universe, a far cry from the test subjects and military empaths also available) to the paraphysicist field kit.
In battling and chasing Dark Minions, Operatives will have the option to bring a battery of scientific disciplines to the fore. However, they will there are times where science... just does not work.
Empathy is a new field of science, one not understood... at all... and where few of the known disciplines may give much of a lead. This is not going to stop our intrepid Operatives, who have the chance to use (and build their own) paranormal detection equipment.
Paraphysicist Field Kit: The nature of empathy is barely understood, and the ‘science’ based around it is barely worthy of the term. However, something beyond what is understood as natural clearly exists, and so there have been many attempts to create devices to detect and analyse empathic activity with the goal of tracking and combating Dark Minions.
Given that there is no real baseline as to what empathy even is, every paraphysicist field kit is unique, each guided by the vague theories and hypotheses of its creator. Many are based on analysing specific frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum, others focus on ultra- and subsonic detection, while more esoteric devices purport to measure some barely defined ‘aether’ or energy field beyond known science.
What is clear is that the effectiveness of each field kit is the ability of its user to read the results it provides and interpret them. Using a paraphysicist field kit requires a successful Formidable (14+) INT check (1D rounds) or Science (paraphysics) check (1D rounds, INT). This will detect the location and direction of any empathic use or any Dark Minion within 10 metres. The range can be increased by applying DM-2 for every additional 10 metres of range, and timeframes can be adjusted to make the task easier or quicker (see page XX).
As the user comes to understand both the field kit and the nature of empathic detection, their ability to successfully use this equipment improves. Every time the check to use the field kit results in Effect 4+, the user gains a cumulative DM+1 to future checks (to a maximum of DM+6). This bonus is applied only to the specific user when using the specific device – a different user or the same user using a different device must start at DM+0.
Many Operatives eschew paraphysicist field kits built by others and only trust one assembled by their own hands, guided by their own ideas and observations. The parts required to create a field kit require Requisition 7 and need a task chain to assemble, using the following skills:
- Difficult (10+) Science (paraphysicist) check (INT)
- Difficult (10+) Electronics (sensors) check (INT)
- An optional Average (8+) Empathy Use check (EMP) can be added
- Average (8+) Mechanic check (INT)
Failure will result in a pile of useless components as the ideas of the Operative building it are proven completely false. The process must be restarted, with new components requisitioned.
