The Doom Effect: Proper Introductions

It should come as no surprise that if I’m going to run an Aberrant game set in the Marvel Universe that Victor VonDoom would play no small part in it. While I do not have (and do not plan to have) a coherent story for it, ‘The Doom Effect’ is a general enough name for it that it could mean anything.

I’m trying to run this as a series of one-off stories that will eventually cut out when interest dies down (Maybe I should call it The Atlas Effect) which means I can’t plan because planning is the campaign-killer. This much I know definitively.

Now, none of my players are familiar with the Aberrant system. They know it’s D10, but not much else. To help with that, I’ve included a quick and dirty primer distilled from my regular old dirty primer (which, by the way, is available upon request via email).

Aberrant character sheets can be found here.


Make a Baseline:
Attributes: 7/5/3
Abilities: 23, none above 3
Backgrounds: 5 dots
_____Allies
_____Backing
_____Contacts
_____Eufiber-Shapeshifting armor/battery stuff
_____Influence
_____Mentor
_____Resources
Willpower: Starts at 3
Quantum:
_____Superhuman meta-stat
_____Starts at 1
Bonus Points: 15 bonus points
_____Attributes: 5 bonus points
_____Abilities: 2 bonus points
_____Background: 1 bonus points
_____Willpower: 2 bonus points
_____Quantum: 7 bonus points

Make it super:
Choose source:
_____Science-Gamma rays, et al
_____Tech(Advanced)
_____Tech(Alien)
_____Mutant
_____Magic
Nova Points: 30 nova points
_____Mega-Attributes: 3 Nova Points/dot
_____Enhancement*: 3 Nova Points
_____Level 1 Power: 1 Nova Point/dot
_____Level 2 Power: 3 Nova Points/dot
_____Level 3 Power: 5 Nova Points/dot
_____Quantum: 5 Nova Points/dot
_____+2 Quantum Pool: 1 Nova Point
_____5 Dots of Backgrounds: 1 Nova Point

*You get one enhancement free with the first dot of a Mega-Attribute. You cannot buy an Enhancement without the corresponding Mega-Attribute.

Other Things:
Quantum Pool
_____The points you use to power your superhuman abilities.
_____20+Quantum x 2
Initiative
_____The sum of a character’s Wits + Dexterity + 2 x (Mega Wits + Mega Dexterity).
Movement
_____Dexterity here refers to the character’s Dexterity + Mega-Dexterity.
_____Walking: 7 meters/turn
_____Running: Dexterity+12
_____Sprinting (Two move actions): (Dexterity x 3)+20

Mega-Attributes and Enhancements:

Mega-Strength
_____Crush-Take a turn to turn brawl damage into lethal damage.
_____Shockwave-Area damage based on the ground.
_____Lifter-Your lifting capacity is increased.
_____Quantum Leap-You can jump really far.
_____Thunderclap-Volume damaged by clapping your hands together.

Mega-Dexterity
_____Accuracy-Take a turn to get three extra attack dice.
_____Enhanced Movement-Multiply your movement speeds by (1+Mega-Dexterity)
_____Fast Tasks-Halves the time necessary most tasks. Accomplish trivial things almost instantly.
_____Flexibility-Mr. Fantastic. May stretch limbs up to 2 meters dot of Mega-Dexterity.
_____Physical Prodigy-Character gains 3 extra dice for certain physical tasks.
_____Catfooted-The character gets extra Stealth dice and can avoid being tracked.
_____Rapid Strike-Adds standard dice to a damage roll equal to the character’s Mega-Dexterity.

Mega-Stamina
_____Adaptability-The character can adapt to survive in most environments. Harsh environments require the expenditure of a Quantum Point.
_____Durability-The character can downgrade lethal damage to bashing damage.
_____Hardbody-The character can downgrade aggravated damage to lethal damage.
_____Regeneration-The character can spend Quantum Points to regenerate health levels.
_____Resiliency-The character gains additional soak dice from their Mega-Stamina.

Mega-Perception
_____Analytic Taste/Touch-The character can identify things by touch alone and distinguish constituent compounds of almost anything they taste.
_____Blindfighting-The character isn’t affected by fighting in darkness or fighting invisible opponents.
_____Bloodhound-The character has an impressive olfactory sense.
_____Electromagnetic Vision-Offers the ability to perceive microwaves, radiowaves, x-rays, infrared radiation, and in low-light.
_____High-End Electromagnetic Scan-The character may see through solid objects by spending a quantum point.
_____Hyperenhanced Hearing-Extra 3 dice for rolls based on hearing. Gives sonar, infra and ultrasonic hearing and even-impossibly-the ability to detect and broadcast radio waves.
_____Quantum Attunement-The character can perceive sources of quantum energy in an area, either other metahumans or strong sources of energy like nuclear reactors, cosmic cubes, temporal rifts, etc.. Costs a quantum point per turn.
_____Ultraperipheral Perception-The character has a 360-degree awareness of their surroundings. Costs a quantum point and lasts for a scene.

Mega-Intelligence
_____Analyze Weakness-The character can spend a quantum point and make an Intelligence roll to find a weakness, whether it’s in a system or a physical object, giving them a bonus to stop or destroy it.
_____Eidetic Memory-You have perfect and near instantaneous recall. Not absolute for storytelling reasons.
_____Enhanced Memory-More depth and reliability than Eidetic Memory, but only for shorter periods of time.
_____Mathematical Savant-The character is a calculator. A good calculator.
_____Linguistic Genius-The character gets five automatic successes for Linguistics rolls. The number of languages with which he is familiar with is multiplied by four.
_____Metal Prodigy-Roll Intelligence and add the successes to a dice roll in a chosen ability. Each ability requires a different enhancement: Engineering, Financial, Investigative, Medical, Scientific, Tactical
_____Speed Reading-You’ve read the novelization of the Keanu Reeves movie Speed like, a hundred times. Seriously.

Mega-Wits
_____Artistic Genius-The character may may a Wits roll when ‘doing art.’ Receives extra dice equal to their successes on the art-related roll.
_____Enhanced Initiative-+5 initiative whenever you pay a quantum point.
_____Lie Detector-spend a quantum point to determine if someone is lying.
_____Natural Empath-For a quantum point, you get 3 extra dice on Rapport rolls and can read people’s emotions, if not more.
_____Synergy-Make a Wits roll, everyone working with you gains dice equal to your successes when you’re all working together.

Mega-Appearance
_____Appearance Alteration-You can make slight changes to your appearance.
_____Awe-Inspiring-Receive automatic successes on Intimidation, Command, and Interrogation rolls as well as persuasion. Costs a quantum point, but still impresses people when not active.
_____Copycat-You may specifically look like someone else. Requires a high-quality model. Costs a quantum point. Doesn’t change, DNA, fingerprints, etc..
_____Face of Terror-Spend a quantum point. Gains three automatic successes to Intimidate rolls.
_____First Impression-Spend a quantum point to automatically make a good impression. You have to really try to ruin that impression, but you can. Will make the character seem like just what the other person wants.
_____Mr. Nobody-Spend a quantum point to vanish into a crowd or exude an aura of ‘unextraordinaryness.’
_____Seductive Looks-Spend a quantum point to get 3 automatic successes to seduce or persuade a target.

Mega-Manipulation
_____Hypnotic Gaze-If everything works just right, you can hypnotize someone a little bit.
_____Persuader-Spend a quantum point to get 1-3 successes on a roll to persuade someone of something. Higher bonus for simpler things, harder bonus for more outrageous requests.
_____Trickster-Spend a quantum point. Gain three automatic succeses to convince someone of something. Usually uses Subterfuge.
_____The Voice-The nova can subtly affect one target within 20 meters with a simple instruction.

Mega-Charisma
_____Commanding Presence-Can spend a Quantum Point to get three automatic successes on rolls to command people. Reduce bonuses for more outlandish commandes.
_____Dreadful Mein-Can spend a quantum point and roll charisma. Successes are penalties against the target’s attack rolls against the character for the rest of the engagement. Effect is lost for aggressive actions.
_____Natural Agitator-The character can sway a crowd with their rhetoric and a Charisma roll.
_____Seductive-The nova can spend a Quantum point and gain three automatic successes to seduce or persuade a target.
_____Soothe-The character can convince everyone in an area to calm the fuck down. Costs a quantum point.

Quantum Powers:
Level 1
Attunement*-The ability to make things part of your Quantum field. Ie, your clothes are as tough as you are.
Bioluminescence-You glow.
Claws-You deal additional, lethal damage in combat.
Dormancy*-You can hide your powers and pass as human.
Hypnosis-Guess.
Intuition-Spider-sense for non-spiders.
Luck-Nudges dice.
Power of Will*-Additional dice on willpower rolls.
Prodigy*-Additional dice to certain abilities.
Psychic Shield-Defense versus mind control/attacks.
Quantum Conversion-You can make a form of energy.
Sensory Shield-You are protected from sensory-based attacks.
Virtuosity*-You can unconsciously affect the world around you. Enhances backgrounds.

Level 2
Absorption-You can absorb damage to enhance a trait.
Animal/Plant Mastery-You can talk to and control plants or animals.
Armor-Additional, permanent defense.
Bodymorph-You may take on the form of an energy or substance, granting you versatile abilities.
Boost-You can enhance a trait at will.
Density Control-You can become an intangible gas or a superheavy brick.
Disorient-You can impair other people’s ability to operate effectively.
Disrupt-You can turn off someone else’s powers.
Domination-You can control someone’s mind.
Empathic Manipulation-You can make manipulate the emotions of others…with super powers.
ESP-You have ESP.
Flight
Force Field-You can create a powerful force field at will.
Holo-You can create an illusion visible to everyone.
Hypermovement-You can move really fast.
Immobilize-You can slow down people. If you do it well enough, they will be frozen.
Immolate-Touching you hurts.
Invisibility-You can’t be seen until you take noticeable actions.
Invulnerability-You have additional soak versus a particular type of attack.
Mental Blast-Mind bullets, Kyle.
Poison-Impairs, weakens, and even kills some people. Can even include diseases.
Premonition-You can see the future…sorta.
Quantum Bolt-All of your blasts. Optic blasts, lightning bolts, repulsor rays, firebreath, gouts of plama, z-rays, shock gauntlets, laser beams, green energy blasts, etc.. If you wanna blast it, you need Quantum Bolt-Worth listing twice. Probably not indicative of some larger error when I cut/pasted all of these powers.
Quantum Leech-You can steal quantum points from a target you touch.
Quantum Regeneration-Regenerate the quantum points used to fuel your powers somewhat more quickly.
Quantum Vampire-You can steal quantum powers from a target you touch.
Shroud-you can create an area of darkness that only you can see in.
Sizemorph (Grow)-Giant Man
Sizemorph (Shrink)-The Wasp
Strobe-Disable or impair people with your choice of light, sound, tactile distress, bad taste, or icky smells.
Stun Attack-Like a quantum bolt, but not. Like immobilize, but not. Like strobe and mental blast, but again..not quite.
Teleport-

Level 3
Clone*-Make copies of your self (Rob Schneider impression strictly forbidden)
Cyberkinesis-Technique power letting you control computers and simple machines.
Disintegration-Aggravated Quantum Bolt
Elemental Anima-Technique power allowing you to control an element.
Elemental Mastery-Technique power allowing you to create and control an element.
Entropy Control-Technique power allowing you to control decay and destruction.
Gravity Control-Technique power which operates like most technique powers, but uses the word ‘Gravity’ a lot.
Healing-You can heal wounds; yours and others.
Homunculus-Pieces of you can come off, allowing you to actually break your foot off in someone’s ass. Just as well, probably wouldn’t want it back anyway.
Magnetic Mastery-Technique power. Magnetism.
Matter Chameleon-Like Bodymorph, but the substance you can take on the properties of isn’t set, but rather based on the things around you. Absorbing Man.
Matter Creation-You can create anything from a brick to an iPod to a functioning nuclear reactor.
Molecular Manipulation-Technique power. Molecules.
Pretercognition-You can willingly have detailed versions of the past and future.
Quantum Construct-You can make things. Green Lantern. Only usable once per scene.
Quantum Imprint-Copies a power or ability or someone you touch.
Shapeshift-You can take many forms at will on the fly. Usually limited to physical things.
Telekinesis-A technique power much like the rest.
Telepathy-A technique power focusing on reading minds (if you can believe it).
Temporal Manipulation-A technique power based on controlling time.
Warp-Create warps that allow multiple people to travel long distances.
Weather Manipulation-Technique power used to manipulate weather (obviously).