Adept Powers

Adept Powers - A Compiled List

 
Analytics
Cost: .25 per level

Analytics improves the adept’s logical ability to detect and analyze patterns, puzzles, and ciphers. It is especially useful for clue-hunting and evidence analysis, providing the subject with amazing deductive powers. This power provides a +1 dice pool modifier per level to any test involving pattern recognition, evidence analysis, or solving puzzles or logical problems. Note that gamemasters should not allow this power to be an instant problem solver. While it may certainly help a character to isolate an overlooked fact, decipher a coded message, or identify an area of research not yet pursued, it may also introduce possibilities that are unlikely or red herrings. It is also possible that a puzzle may not be solvable simply because crucial information has not yet been uncovered (though it may make the subject aware of this).

Animal Empathy
Cost: .25 per level

An adept with this power gains a preternatural affinity with non-sapient animals (both normal and paranormal). Each level of Animal Empathy adds one die to the character’s dice pool for tests involving the handling of animals, as well as attempts to frighten or intimidate animals.

Astral Perception
Cost: 1

This power allows the adept to bridge the gap between the physical and astral realms and “see” into the astral plane. Adepts with this power follow all the normal rules for astral perception (p. 191).

Attribute Boost
Cost: .25 per level

You can call upon your inner strength to perform amazing feats beyond your normal abilities. Attribute Boost must be purchased for a specific Physical attribute: Agility, Body, Reaction, or Strength (separate Attribute Boost powers may be bought for different attributes). It cannot be purchased for a Mental or Special attribute. To gain the boost, make a Magic + (Attribute Boost) Test. Each hit on this test boosts the attribute by 1. The boost lasts for a number of Combat Turns equal to the twice the number of hits generated. No attribute may be boosted past its maximum augmented value (p. 68). Attribute Boost requires a Simple Action to activate. When the boost runs out, you must resist Drain equal to the Attribute Boost rating using Willpower + Body; each hit reduces the Drain Value by one. Attribute Boost Drain is Stun damage. The attribute bonus from Attribute Boost is not compatible with any other attribute augmentations, whether from implants or spells, with the exception of the Improved Physical Attribute adept power.

Berserk
Cost: 1

A character with the Berserk power has the ability to voluntarily trigger a berserk state (with a Free Action) and enhance his physical abilities at the cost of a temporary loss of mental faculties and sensory acuity. While under the effect of the Berserk power, the adept is subject to frenzied bloodlust and will go after opponent(s) without regard for his own safety. Berserk adepts gain +1 to all of their Physical attribute ratings but also lower all of their Mental attribute ratings by 1 (to a minimum of 1) for (Magic) minutes. All relevant dice pools and Physical and Stun damage tracks are modified for the duration of the power. After Berserk wears off, the character’s attributes return to normal. Adepts or mystic adepts who also possess the berserker disadvantage from a mentor spirit will find this power triggers automatically when they become berserk.

Blind Fighting
Cost: .5

A character with Blind Fighting has a mystical “sixth sense” that allows him to fight effectively even when deprived of vision. Blind Fighting reduces the penalties for full darkness modifiers to –4 (rather than –6). Any applicable cover and movement modifiers remain in effect.

Cloak
Cost: .25 per level

The adept who develops Cloak is able to shroud their presence from magical detection. Add a dice pool modifier equal to the adept’s level in this power to Opposed Tests to resist detection by active Detection spells (p.198, SR4) or the Search power. Cloak does not hamper attempts to read the character’s aura through astral perception or otherwise spot the character directly from astral space; it just makes him difficult to “lock onto” to with detection magic.

Combat Sense
Cost: .5 per level

Combat Sense provides an instinctive sense about an area and any potential threats nearby. The character gains one die per level for Reaction on Surprise Tests and when defending against ranged and melee attacks.

Commanding Voice
Cost: .25

This power channels the adept’s magic into his voice to enhance the modulation and pitch, subliminally influencing the actions of any listeners. The adept takes a Complex Action to give a simple but forceful command (five words or less) to the target, making an Opposed Test with Leadership + Charisma against the target(s) Willpower + Leadership. If the adept succeeds in the test, the target uses his next action to either carry out the command or stands confused (gamemaster’s choice, but the more net hits achieved the more likely he will obey the adept’s command). Such commands carry no weight beyond the immediate impetus, and the affected characters will quickly reassert their wits, returning to their original course of action. If multiple individuals are targeted, use the largest dice pool among the defenders and add +1 dice per additional target (max. +5). Commanding voice may only be used on metahumans who can directly hear and understand the adept’s words. It has no effect when the voice is amplified or broadcast via technological means (eg. wireless transmission, loudspeaker, etc). It is also less effective on subsequent uses against the same target. Apply a cumulative –2 dice pool penalty for each use within the preceding 24 hours.

Confidence Man
Cost: 1
Speaker’s Way Adepts Only

Adepts of the Speaker’s Way are known for being able to make their marks believe in anything. Those with this power have the particular ability to make their allies believe in themselves. It may a ffect one friendly target per use, supplying them with increased
e ffectiveness as the adept increases their con fidence in their own abilities. Using this power requires a Full Action, and allows the adept a Charisma + Leadership roll, with a threshold equal to the threshold of the test they wish to help with. If the test is successful, the targeted ally may improve their position on the “Buying Hits” table (p. 62, SR4A) by one column (for example, a character with an 8-11 die pool would buy 3 automatic hits, not 2).

Cool Resolve
Cost: .25 per level

Cool Resolve makes a character inhumanly self-assured and unflappable in social exchanges, whether these be delicate negotiations or an interrogator’s grilling. Each level of the power adds one die to the adept’s dice pool for Opposed Tests involving Social Active skills in which he is the target/defender.

Counterstrike
Cost: .5 per level

Counterstrike allows an adept to seamlessly spring from a successful defense in melee combat to a powerful offense, turning the attacker’s force against him. To use this power the adept must first successfully parry or block a melee attack (p. 147, SR4). The character’s level in Counterstrike plus any net hits achieved during the parry or block are added to his next melee attack roll—as long as he retaliates in his next available action. If the adept opts to dodge or make a full defense maneuver other than parry or block, Counterstrike is ineffective.

Creative Eye
Cost: 0.75 per level
Artist’s Way Adepts Only
 
With this power, you can raise your Intuition attribute. Each level increases Intuition by one. If you later want to increase Intuition using Karma, the cost is based on the total attribute, including the magical improvements. This power allows you to exceed your natural attribute maximum up to the augmented maximum, but each point over the maximum costs double (1.5 Power points per level).

Critical Strike
Cost: .25 per level

This power uses magic to increase the Damage Value of your unarmed attacks, as you strike with more proficiency and power. Each level of Critical Strike increases the character’s Damage Value in unarmed combat by +1. Critical Strike may be used with Killing Hands (p. 196), and may also be used in astral combat. The use of Critical Strike must be declared with the Unarmed Combat attack.

Distance Strike
Cost: 2

This power allows an adept to “transmit” an unarmed physical attack over a short distance to strike a target with concussive force. The power’s range equals the adept’s Magic attribute in meters, and it inflicts damage as normal (this may include the effects of Killing Hands but not Elemental Strike). Though the attack is rolled as a normal unarmed attack (ignoring Reach modifiers), the defender resists the attack as if it were a ranged attack (ie. the defender may just roll Reaction or go on full defense). Cover modifiers apply and the strike is unable to pass through solid objects. Targets on the other side of mana barriers cannot be affected by this power.

Eidetic Sense Memory
Cost: .5

An adept with this power has the ability to memorize all types of sensory input. Besides perfect photographic visual memory, the adept can recollect sounds, textures, tastes, and smells—and any combination thereof. The adept can recall these sensory impressions at will, and will remember who or what they have memorized in future encounters. The adept can also photo-read, greatly increasing their reading speed.

Elemental Resistance
Cost: .5
 
This power can only be developed by characters who already possess the Mystic Armor power (p. 188, SR4). Elemental Resistance enhances the effects of Mystic Armor by granting the full rating of the Mystic Armor Power to the character’s armor value against one elemental attack type (pp. 154–5, SR4 and pp. 164–5, Street Magic). The specific elemental effect must be chosen at the time the power is bought, though an adept may take this power more than once to achieve different elemental resistances.  
Elemental Strike
Cost: .5

This power can only be developed by characters who already possess the Killing Hands power (p. 188, SR4). Elemental Strike enhances the effects of Killing Hands with an elemental effect (see pp. 164–165 of this book and pp. 154–155, SR4). The specific elemental effect must be chosen at the time the power is bought, though an adept may take this power more than once to achieve different elemental effects (only one elemental effect may be applied per strike). While active, the power wreathes the adept’s hands with a visible effect appropriate to the chosen element. Activating Elemental Strike is a Simple Action, after which the effect lasts for (Magic attribute) Combat Turns. Given the focus it demands, Elemental Strike may not be combined with Distance Strike.

Empathic Healing
Cost: .5

This power allows an adept to heal another person by transferring some or all of their wounds to himself. The adept rolls a Magic + Willpower Test. Each hit transfers 1 box of damage from the target to the adept’s own damage track. Only Physical damage may be transferred in this manner. As with magical healing by spell, characters with implants are harder to heal: the subject’s lost Essence (rounded down) is applied as a negative dice pool modifier to the adept’s test. The transferal process takes 2 full Combat Turns per box of damage to complete and the adept must maintain physical contact with the target during the entire process. Empathic Sense may only be used once on any particular set of wounds.

Enhanced Perception
Cost: .25 per level

This power sharpens your senses. Each level provides an additional die for all Perception Tests (p. 135), including Assensing Tests. You cannot have more Enhanced Perception dice than your Intuition attribute.

Enthralling Performance
Cost: .5

To utilize this power, an adept must have an artistic skill such as Artisan or Gymnastics. The power only applies to that specific skill, though the adept may purchase this power more than once, applying it to different skills. If the gamemaster allows, it, this power may also apply to Unarmed Combat (Martial Arts) or Con (Impersonation). This power infuses the adept’s performance of his chosen artistic ability with magic. While exercising his art (whether painting, dancing, performing katas, or acting), the flow of his movements and the thrill of his virtuosity mesmerizes the audience into a mild hypnotic state. The adept makes an appropriate skill + Magic Test. The adept’s hits serve as a threshold modifier for any Perception Test his audience might make during the performance. Entranced audience members who are subject to sudden stress (such as being knocked over or actively threatened) or are subject to obtrusive environmental distractions (such as an unsilenced gunshot) will automatically be released from the trance. The maximum period an adept can keep subjects entranced is equal to his Charisma x 10 minutes.

Facial Sculpt
Cost: .25 per level

An adept with this power may change his facial features through slight shifts in muscle build, bone structure, and cartilage. Each level adds a +1 dice pool modifier to any Disguise Tests (p. 118, SR4). An adept is able to maintain his new face for (Magic) hours. Possible changes include: raising or lowering cheek bones, thickening or thinning of the lips, stretching the eyelids, altering the height or shape of the ears, squaring or rounding the chin, or drawing up or fattening of the nose. It can alter the character’s perceived metatype (at least in the face), though depending on the character’s body mass this may look odd.

Flexibility
Cost: .25 per level

Flexibility makes an adept’s limbs unusually supple and limber, able to twist and bend beyond the metahuman norm. Flexibility also helps the adept squeeze through small openings and tight passages, which would otherwise prove difficult for a normal person of his size (such as transoms, ventilation ducts, and other tight fits). Each level increases the adept’s dice pool for Escape Artist tests (p. 115, SR4) by one die. The bonus applies to any test made to escape handcuffs, ropes, and other such bindings, as well as tests to escape Subduing attempts (p.151, SR4). The gamemaster should adjust the threshold to reflect particularly tight quarters or difficult contortions.

Freefall
Cost: .25 per level

For each level of Freefall taken, a character may reduce the effective distance he falls by 2 meters for the purpose of calculating falling damage (see p. 154, SR4). For example, if an adept with Freefall at level 3 falls 8 meters, he takes damage as if he had fallen only 2 meters. While this power protects from falling damage, the adept may still take damage if he falls onto a dangerous surface such as a glass shard-riddled balcony or a burning floor (gamemaster’s discretion).

Gliding
Cost: 1

This power allows an adept to run up to (Magic) meters across a tangible surface that would normally be unable to hold his weight, such as a fragile tree branch, thin ice, or water. Any attempts to run longer distances require breaking points or landings between uses of Gliding. Any attempt to use this power for acrobatic maneuvers (such as jumping from the surface or performing a Gymnastics dodge) is considered a difficult maneuver, and subtracts 3 dice from the relevant dice pool. Secondary effects of the adept’s motion, such as sound or vibrations, are still noticeable (leaves shake and water ripples) unless the adept also uses the Traceless Walk power.

Great Leap
Cost: .25 per level

Adepts with Great Leap are able to make incredible jumps into the air and over long distances. Each level of Great Leap adds a die for Jumping Tests (see Using Jumping, p. 134). Each level is also added to the character’s Agility for determining the maximum distance a character can jump. 

Heightened Concentration
Cost: 1
 
The adept is capable of tuning out a single distraction to her task at hand. When using this power, the adept can ignore a single situational negative dice pool modifier of a value up to her Magic attribute. This power requires a Complex Action to activate and maybe be combined with the Adept Centering metamagic. 

Improved Ability
Cost: .5 per level (Combat skills), .25 per level (Physical, Social, Technical, and Vehicle skills) 

This power increases the rating of a specific Active skill by 1 per level. A skill’s maximum modified rating equals its base rating x 1.5. Improved ability must be purchased for a specific skill, not a skill group.

Improved Physical Attribute
Cost: .75 per level

With this power, you can raise a Physical attribute (Agility, Body, Reaction, or Strength). Each level increases the attribute by one. If you later want to increase the attribute using Karma (p. 269), the cost is based on the total attribute, including the magical improvements. Increasing Reaction with this power also affects Initiative. This power allows you to exceed your natural attribute maximum up to the augmented maximum, but each point over the maximum costs double (1.5 Power points per level).

Improved Reflexes
Cost: Variable, see below

This power increases the speed at which you react, just like wired reflexes. For each level, you receive +1 die to Reaction (this also affects Initiative) and 1 extra Initiative Pass. The maximum rating of Improved Reflexes is 3, and the increase cannot be combined with technological or other magical increases to Initiative.

Improved Sense
Cost: .25 per improvement

You have a sensory improvement not normally possessed by yourmetatype. Improvements include low-light or thermographic vision, high or low frequency hearing, and so on. Any sense provided by cyberware can also be provided by this power (see Street Gear, p. 310, for more information), unless an improvement involves radio or similar technological phenomena. Unlike cyberware, there are no package deals on cost. Additional Improved Senses are described here:

Direction Sense: With successful Perception Test, your acute sense of direction tells you which way you are facing and whether you’re above or below the local ground level. This ability is especially useful for tribal hunters, guides, spies, and runners who pursue similar occupations.
 
Improved Scent: You can identify scents in the same way as a bloodhound. You can identify individuals by scent alone, and can tell if someone whose scent you know has been in an area recently with a successful Perception Test. The strong smells of most sprawls impose
modifiers on the use of this sense.
 
Improved Taste: You can recognize the ingredients of food or beverage by taste alone. A successful Perception Test allows adepts with Chemistry or a similar Knowledge skill to identify ingestive poisons and drugs concealed in food or drink. A successful Perception Test allows adepts to determine if a sample of water is pure enough to drink.
 
Flare Compensation: Your eyes adapt quickly to intense light, allowing you to avoid the effects of flash grenades and similar weapons. This power functions exactly like the flare compensation vision enhancement (p. 333).
 
Sound Dampening: Your ears are protected from loud noises and adjust quickly to sudden changes in noise level. The sound dampening power functions exactly like the cybernetic damper enhancement (p. 341).

Indomitable Will
Cost: .25 per level
 
An adept with this power gains exceptional mental fortitude in the face of fear and torture. Each level taken in this power grants the adept a +1 dice pool modifier to Opposed Tests to resist all uses of the Intimidation Skill or specializations, as well as fearinducing powers and spells.  
Inertia Strike
Cost: .5

Inertia strike allows an adept to channel his power into a potent melee or unarmed attack focused on knocking his opponent off of his feet. The use of this power requires a Free Action to focus before the attack test. The adept may add half his Strength (round down) to the number of boxes of damage done solely for the purpose of determining whether Knockdown occurs (p. 151, SR4).

Iron Gut
Cost: .25 per level

This power allows an adept to digest nearly anything and pass it without harm (gamemaster’s discretion). Each level of Iron Gut adds a +1 dice pool modifier for Resistance Tests against ingested toxins.

Iron Lungs
Cost: .25 per level

Iron Lungs grants an adept a dramatically enhanced lung capacity. Each level of Iron Lungs increases the amount of time an adept can hold her breath by 30 seconds (10 Combat Turns). Additionally, each level adds a +1 dice pool modifier for Body or Strength Tests to determine when fatigue sets in (p.154, SR4).

Iron Will
Cost: .25 per level

Iron Will makes an adept’s mind resistant to external influences. The character may add the power’s level in bonus dice to tests to resist magical mind control or alteration—including Mental Manipulation spells and some critter and adept powers.

Keen Wits
Cost: 0.75 per level
Artisan’s Way Adepts Only

With this power, you can raise your Logic attribute. Each level increases Logic by one. If you later want to increase Logic using Karma, the cost is based on the total attribute, including the magical improvements. This power allows you to exceed your natural attribute maximum up to the augmented maximum, but each point over the maximum costs double (1.5 Power points per level).

Killing Hands
Cost: .5

This power uses magic to turn unarmed attacks into lethal, physical damage. When participating in unarmed combat, you may do normal Stun damage or declare the use of Killing Hands and inflict an equal amount of Physical damage instead. Killing Hands may be used with Critical Strike (p. 195). A Killing Hands attack may also be used against creatures with Immunity to Normal Weapons (p. 295) to inflict either Stun or Physical damage; their defensive bonuses do not count against Killing Hands. Killing Hands can also be used in astral combat (see Astral Combat, p. 193).

Kinesics
Cost: .5 per level (max 3 levels)

An adept with Kinesics has complete control over her body’s nonverbal and subconscious communication and social cues, even when engaged in stressful social scenarios. This control includes facial expressions, body movements, posture, eye movements, and internal biological stress functions such as heartbeat, blood pressure, and sweat glands. The adept is also gifted at reading others’ body language and cultural-specific affectations and mimicking their cues to her advantage. As a result, this power boosts the character’s natural presence and social charms. Each level applies a +1 bonus for the adept when making or resisting Social skill tests. It also applies a +1 dice pool modifier to the adept on any Opposed Tests made to gauge the adept’s truthfulness or emotional state, including Judge Intention tests (p. 139), assensing for emotional state, and other magical and technological tests. Two adepts with Kinesics and within sight of each other can use a Complex Action to nonverbally communicate simple notions to each other, using body language alone. Only basic messages and emotional states can be conveyed: yes, no, bad idea, I don’t want to, I’m angry, look out behind you, and so on.

Linguistics
Cost: .25

The Linguistics power combines enhanced memorization and mimicry to allow an adept to pick up a new language after minimal exposure—no Karma expenditure or test required. After (10 – Magic) hours of contact to the new language in use, the adept makes an Intuition + Logic Test using a threshold as noted on the Linguistics Table (p. 177). If successful, the adept develops the Language skill at Rating 1 at no Karma cost. Increasing the skill beyond this point requires normal Karma expenditure, but the base learning time for the adept is halved.

Living Focus
Cost: 1

Living Focus allows the adept to physiologically adjust his body to channel mana in order to sustain a spell cast solely on him (in effect becoming a metahuman sustaining focus). The magician who cast the spell need not sustain it; this power allows the adept to do so with a little concentration. The Force of the spell sustained in this manner may not exceed the adept’s Magic, and the adept may only sustain one spell at a time. The adept suffers a –2 dice pool modifier for all actions for the duration he sustains the spell.

Magic Sense
Cost: .5

This power grants the adept extra sensitivity to the ebbs and flows of mana in his vicinity. The adept can sense magical activity on the same plane within (Magic x 10) meters of his person. This power will detect active foci, spells, mana barriers, dual-natured beings, and mana anomalies; on the astral it will also detect astral forms. Treat this power as the Detect Magic spell (p. 199, SR4), with a Force equal to the adept’s Magic.

Maintain Warmth 
Cost: 0.25
 
Adepts with this ability can resist the onset of hypothermia or other cold-related conditions.  

Melanin Control
Cost: .5

An adept with Melanin Control has the ability to alter his hair or skin color within the limits of normal skin tone for the character’s ethnicity/metatype. For instance, a caucasian’s skin could go from albino skin to dark tropical tan but not to black. For the purpose of this power, skin tone is simplified to five standard varieties (albino, caucasian, tan, brown, and black) and the same with hair color (white/gray, blonde, red, brown, and black). Use of Melanin Control requires a Complex Action to shift either hair or skin color one grade. Therefore, to shift albino skin to rich brown would require three Complex Actions. The effect lasts the adept’s Magic in hours.

Memory Displacement
Cost: .25
 
An adept with Memory Displacement is capable of removing a specifically chosen group of memory from her brain for a predetermined length of time. Memory Displacement requires
the user to concentrate for a Complex Action to activate. During this time, the character has no way to recollect the memories in question. As a consequence, the memories cannot be recovered through Interrogation, Intimidation, or mental manipulation spells. No amount of questioning will reveal that the character ever possessed these memories. Once the predetermined amount of time has passed, the adept’s memories return to normal.  
Metabolic Control
Cost: .5

This power grants an adept exceptional control over his metabolism, giving him the natural power to reduce the effects associated with extreme wounds by stabilizing and suspending his body’s organic processes. Metabolic Control allows the character to enter a meditative trance state in which bodily processes are slowed, thereby reducing the rate of breathing and bleeding, but also limiting his need for food, water, and air. The character’s metabolism is reduced by a factor equal to his Magic (therefore also delaying the effects onset of toxins, poisons, and diseases). For example, a character with Magic 5 will have his metabolism decreased by a factor of 5. While in this state, the character cannot act as normal (though he can break out at any time). This power activates automatically if the adept goes into Physical damage overflow (see p. 153 and 244, SR4), placing the adept’s body into a suspended state. In this case, the adept will only take additional overflow damage at the rate of 1 box per (Body) hours.

Mind Over Matter
Cost: 1.5 (may only be taken once)

The adept is truly a master of mind over matter and may use one Mental attribute in place of one Physical attribute for any tests. The attributes used must correspond per the Astral Attributes table (p. 192, SR4A); for example, only Charisma may be used in place of Strength, only Logic for Agility, etc. Once the attribute substitution is chosen for this power, it cannot be changed.  

Missile Mastery
Cost: 1

Even the most harmless of items such as pens, coins, and playing cards become deadly weapons in the hands of an adept with Missile Mastery. Such is the character’s knack for throwing weapons that he adds +1 to the Damage Value of any non-explosive thrown weapon he uses. Improvised thrown weapons (such as playing cards, glasses or pens) have a Damage Value of (STR ÷ 2)P (round up) in the adept’s hands. At the adept’s discretion, thrown weapons that normally inflict stun damage may instead inflict physical.

Missile Parry
Cost: .25 per level

You can catch slow-moving missile weapons such as arrows, thrown knives, grenades, or shuriken out of the air. When using this power, the defender rolls Reaction + Missile Parry (+ Dodge if on full defense) against the ranged attack test. To successfully grab the missile weapon out of the air, you must generate equal or more hits than the attack test. Using Missile Parry is a Free Action.

Motion Sense
Cost: .5

This power grants the adept a magical sense of minute disturbances in the ambient mana, allowing him to subconsciously detect the motion of objects, people, or animals within (Magic) meters, even when he would be unable to detect them through normal senses such as sight, sound, or smell. The adept makes a Perception + Magic Test with a threshold based on the Motion Sense table. If the target is detected, reduce the dice pool modifiers for visibility or blind fire by 2. This power cannot detect movement through astral barriers.

Multi-Tasking
Cost: .5

Multi-tasking grants the ability to simultaneously process information from multiple senses. For example, an adept with this power could read data off multiple vid-screens and simultaneously hold a conference call over his commlink or hold a conversation while watching the trid, providing full attention to each. In game terms, Observe in Detail (p. 136, SR4) counts as a Free Action for the character. The adept is also hard to distract (for instance, they would suffer no modifiers in a crowded nightclub or an AR spam zone). Additionally, an adept with Multi-tasking gains two Free Actions per Initiative Pass when not directly involved in combat.

Mystic Armor
Cost: .5 per level

This power magically toughens your skin to resist the effects of damage. Each level provides you with 1 point of armor (that counts as both Ballistic and Impact) that is cumulative with any worn armor. Mystic Armor also protects against damage done in astral combat (p. 193).

Natural Immunity
Cost: .25 per level

Your power of mind-over-body allows you to resist the effects of toxins and disease. Each level of Natural Immunity provides 1 additional die for Resistance Tests against such effects.

Natural Survivors
Cost: 0.5 per level
Totem’s Way Adepts Only

Adepts with this power have an innate knack for adapting to their environment, whether it be by taking on the survival skills of an uncanny urban Mentor Spirit like Cat or Rat, or through natural link with the elements due to the wild places being home to Eagle, Mountain, Wolf,
or any other wilderness Totem they follow. Each level applies a +1 bonus when making Navigation, Survival, or Tracking skill checks or a +1 bonus when making Shadowing, Survival, or Street Knowledge skill checks (choose which skill set receives a bonus at the time each level of this power is purchased).

Nerve Strike
Cost: 1

This power allows an adept to inflict a paralyzing attack, temporarily crippling an opponent, by targeting vital nerve clusters. The adept declares he is using the power and makes a normal unarmed melee attack. Instead of inflicting damage, each net hit reduces his opponent’s Agility or Reaction (attacker’s choice) by 1. Lost Agility and Reaction returns at a rate of 1 point per minute of rest. If a character’s Agility or Reaction is reduced to 0, he is paralyzed and unable to move. Nerve Strike is most effective against metahuman opponents; when used against critters, reduce Agility or Reaction by 1 for every 2 net hits instead. Targets that lack a functional nervous system such as spirits, drones, and zombies are immune to this power.

Nimble Fingers
Cost: .25

Nimble fingers allows the adept to perform simple reflex and timing tricks more efficiently and effectively. It adds a +1 dice pool modifier to Palming and other slight-of-hand tests involving manual dexterity. Additionally, Insert Clip, Pick Up/Put Down Object, Remove Clip, and Use Simple Object are considered Free Actions for the adept.

Pain Relief
Cost: 1

Using a technique similar to Nerve Strike, Pain Relief allows an adept to channel mana through his hands and apply it to chi or chakra points on a target (the adept cannot use Pain Relief on himself ). Integral to many Asian holistic traditions such as Reiki, acupuncture, Quijong, and Shiatsu, this technique allows the adept to dissipate fatigue, muscle tension, and pain—effectively healing Stun damage. The adept makes a Magic + Agility (2) Test, healing a number of boxes from the Stun damage track equal to the number of net hits achieved. As with Health spells, modifiers for healing targets with implants apply (see p. 199, SR4). This energy manipulation takes 5 minutes per damage box healed, and the adept must maintain physical contact for the duration. Any interruption means all progress is lost and the process must be restarted. The target draws no benefit from further applications of Pain Relief until the remaining Stun damage is healed naturally.

Pain Resistance
Cost: .5 per level

Pain Resistance allows you to ignore the effects of injury. It does not reduce actual damage, only its effect on you. Subtract your level of Pain Resistance from your current damage before determining your wound modifiers. So, an adept with 3 levels of Pain Resistance does not suffer any modifiers for sustaining up to 3 boxes of damage and suffers a reduced penalty with more significant injuries. Pain Resistance works equally on both the Physical and Stun Condition Monitors. Pain Resistance also allows you to resist pain from torture, magic, illness, and so on. Each level adds +2 dice to any tests you make to resist pain, such as a Body or Willpower Test against the symptoms of a painful disease, interrogation, torture, and so on.

Penetrating Strike
Cost: .25 per level (maximum 3)

This power allows the adept to channel the force of an unarmed combat attack a short distance forward, thereby bypassing the target’s armor. This power gives the adept’s unarmed strikes a negative AP equal to the Penetrating Strike’s level (max. 3). This power can be combined with Killing Hands, but not with Distance Strike or Elemental Strike due to the extra focus these already require.

Piercing Senses
Cost: .25 per level

Piercing Senses makes an adept more resistant to illusions. Each level gives an adept a +1 dice pool modifier on tests to resist Illusion spells and illusion-based critter powers (such as Concealment and Mimicry).

Power Swimming
Cost: 1
 
The adept character with this power moves at home in water and swims with the ease and speed of a marine mammal. This power doubles an adept’s natural swimming rate (p. 118, SR4) and each hit on a Swimming Test adds 2 meters instead of 1 to the swimming rate.

Power Throw
Cost: .25 per level

Each level of this power adds 2 to the character’s effective Strength solely for the purpose of determining range and damage of thrown weapons and objects.

Prodigious Physicality
Cost: 0.5 per level (max 3 levels)
Athlete’s Way Adepts Only

Characters with this power are capable of tremendous feats of talent and ability beyond the ken of other adepts. Their balance, endurance, strength, and explosive agility are the thing of legend. Each level applies a +1 bonus when making Climbing, Gymnastics, Running, or Swimming skill checks.

Quick Draw
Cost: .5

The adept may use the Quick Draw rules (p. 137, SR4) to draw any weapon, not just pistols. An adept may draw and use a single melee weapon, missile weapon, throwing weapon, or firearm in one action, and need not spend two actions to draw and ready the weapon and then attack: drawing and readying occur in the action used for the Attack Test. If attacking with the weapon requires a Complex Action, the adept may still draw and attack in a single Action Phase. If attacking with a weapon that requires only a Simple Action to use, the adept may draw and make two attacks in a single Action Phase. The adept must succeed in an appropriate weapon skill + Reaction (2) Test to Quick Draw.

Rapid Healing
Cost: .25 per level

You recover more quickly from all forms of injury, using magical energy to boost the normal healing process. Each level adds 1 die to your Body for Healing Tests (p. 252). The power does not increase resistance to injury, toxins or pathogens, but does allow you to recover from their effects more quickly.

Rooting
Cost: .25 per level

By taking a Simple Action, an adept with the Rooting power can become an immovable object. Each level adds a +1 modifier to Body solely for checking for knockdown (p. 151, SR4) and also adds a +1 dice pool modifier to any tests to resist being knocked down, thrown, levitated, or otherwise moved against his will. While rooted, the character cannot move at all from where he stands. He may otherwise act normally with his arms and upper body (including making attacks) but may not dodge and suffers a –3 dice pool modifier to combat parries and blocks. The power’s effect can be cancelled with just a thought.

Rush
Cost: 0.5
 
With a focused burst of mana, the adept plows adrenaline and magic through her veins, pushing her body past its limits. At the beginning of the adept’s first Initiative Pass in a Combat Turn, she may choose to activate this power (as a Free Action). The adept
gets +1 Initiative Pass for the Combat Turn. This boost does not come without a price. At the end of the Combat Turn this power was activated, the adept must resist Physical drain equal to twice the number of Initiative Passes the adept had that Combat Turn (adepts resist drain with Willpower + Body).  

Smashing Blow
Cost: 1

An adept with this power may focus his magic to break through obstacles. Multiply his base DV by 2 when performing an unarmed strike on a barrier or other static structure (p.157–158, SR4).


Sorcerous Parry
Cost: 0.5 per level
Magician’s Way Adepts Only

Mystic adepts with this power are experts at snuffing out enemy spells with tremendous ease. It increases the rating of the Counterspelling skill by 1 per level. Like any skill, the maximum modi fied rating equals the base rating x 1.5.

Spell Resistance
Cost: .5 per level

You possess an inherent resistance to sorcery. Add 1 die per level of this power to all your Resistance Tests against spells. Spell Resistance does not interfere with spells that you choose not to resist. The only critter power this protects you from is the Innate Spell power (and critters using Spellcasting of course).

Supernatural Toughness
Cost: .5 per level
 
For each level taken in this power the adept gains one extra Physical or Stun Condition Monitor box.

Sustenance
Cost: .25

This power allows an adept to replenishes the same amount of energy and health from three hours of sleep and one solid meal a day, as a normal person would with eight hours of sleep and three meals. Additionally, Sustenance enhances digestive and metabolizing processes, and therefore the adept requires only one trip to the restroom each day.

Swift and Terrible
Cost: 0.5 per level
Warrior’s Way Adepts Only

Warrior cultures around the world glorify in crushing foes in close combat, and adepts with this power are emboldened toward greater victory or are more swi ftly able to reposition tactically every time they best a foe. For every enemy combatant beaten in close combat (be it armed or unarmed) during a single combat round, apply a +1 to the adept’s Initiative attribute (to a limit of levels taken in this power) for the next round only.

Temperature Tolerance
Cost: .25 per level

An adept with Temperature Tolerance gains a degree of resistance to extremes of cold and heat. Each level of this power adds a +1 dice pool modifier for tests to resist the effects and damage of exposure to extreme temperatures. This power also extends to resisting the magical effects of elemental fire or cold.

Three-Dimensional Memory
Cost: .5

An adept with Three-Dimensional Memory can use a Complex Action to memorize an area he has viewed firsthand in ultra-clear detail. At a later time, the character may make a Magic + Perception Test to call up the “stored” memory and walk through the “scene,” exploring it as if he was walking through the location for the first time. The adept may not interact or disturb anything in the recalled scene, he may only review things he actually saw or sensed, even if only incidentally at the time. For instance, the adept cannot review the contents of a drawer unless it was open when the adept memorized the scene. Scenes memorized in this manner must be no greater than the adept’s Magic x Magic in cubic meters. An adept may memorize a number of areas equal to his Magic attribute. The threshold for the Perception Test itself is modified by the time elapsed since the memory was “registered,” as noted on the Three-Dimensional Memory Table.

Traceless Walk
Cost: 1

The adept with this power may move over surfaces—including soft or brittle surfaces such as snow, sand, or thin paper—without leaving visible traces. He makes no noise through contact with the floor (though movement may still cause other sounds), and any hearing-based Perception Tests to detect him suffer a –4 dice pool penalty. The adept will not trip ground-based motion or pressure sensors. The adept cannot walk across liquid surfaces (but can walk across deep snow without sinking) and can still be tracked by non-visual cues such as scent and sound.

Unseen Hands
Cost: 0.5 per level (max 3 levels)
Inv isible Way Adepts Only

Adepts with this power are masters of remaining hidden, whether it be by clinging to shadows or remaining unseen in the midst of a crowd. Each level applies a +1 bonus when making Disguise, Infiltration, Palming, or Shadowing skill checks.

Voice Control
Cost: 0.5

An adept with Voice Control has an amazing level of control over the properties of her voice. The adept can change her voice’s pitch, modulation and tone at will, as well as increase her volume. This allows the adept to mask her voice and imitate sounds within the normal range of metahuman vocalization (i.e, no infrasound or ultrasound), including mimicking the voices of others. This trick can be used to defeat voice recognition systems; make an Opposed Test between the adept’s Con + Charisma against the voice recognition system’s rating, or against the Perception + Intuition of other characters the adept is attempting to fool. Voice Control also allows an adept to “throw” her voice up to (Magic attribute x 2) meters away.

Wall Running
Cost: 1

This power allows the adept to run up sheer walls or other vertical surfaces. The adept makes a Strength + Running Test, with hits indicating the number of meters he may climb. Attempts to run up longer distances require stops or landings and additional uses of Wall Running. Any move that requires a Gymnastics Test (such as jumping from one wall to another) performed while using this power suffers a –2 dice pool modifier. Secondary effects of the adept’s motion still occur, such as resulting sound or tracks, unless combined with the Traceless Walk power.