Reality Alteration
The Mage can reshape time itself in order to achieve a desired situation. There are 4 forms of this Power, each with a specific area of effect. 3 of these alter the conditions that result from the passage of time. The fourth alters the actual flow of time.
When the player creates a character with this Power, he must roll the dice to randomly determine what form his Mage possesses.Future: The Mage can control the probability of a certain event coming to pass. The event can have any degree of importance, from a simple coin toss to the passage of the Mutant Control Act. Events of greater importance require the Mage to make the desired change in a series of several steps over a great period of time. The Power is limited to directly influencing events within a finite range of time and complexity. The maximum range into the future that the Mage can directly influence events is the number of turns equal to her Power rank number. For example, an Ex(20) rank can influence an event that won't occur for another 20 turns. The complexity of the desired change decides what Intensity FEAT is required. Random chance or a single event that is decided by the dice requires a green FEAT to change to the Mage's whim. Series of physical actions or altering a person's decisions requires a yellow FEAT. Altering several conscious decisions by 2 or more people requires a red FEAT. The Mage must be within line-of-sight of the location of the impending event in order to use this Power. Clairvoyance or Sensory Link can be coupled with this Power to extend its range up to the limit of that Power's detection range.
This Power requires a great deal of cooperation with the Judge, especially at the higher levels that have an immediate range of several minutes or hours of game time. If the FEAT is successful, the future event occurs naturally at the appointed time. If the FEAT is unsuccessful, the event is somehow protected from the Mage's tampering. She must try a different tactic if she makes another attempt to alter that future event.
Example: Tamper has Rm Reality Alteration and a range of 3 minutes. She is incognito at a secret Congressional Appropriations Committee meeting at which Henry Peter Gyrich is seeking funding for additional Sentinels. Tamper is trying to cut the funding. As this requires changing the minds of several Congressmen, a red FEAT is required. 2 minutes before the vote is taken, she tries and fails (her player rolled a 66). The Congressmen's minds are already made up. She tries another tactic by concentrating on Gyrich himself. She increases the probability that he would do something incredibly obnoxious that would disgrace him in front of the Congressmen. This only alters a single mind and is a yellow FEAT. She fails that too (he's too hidebound). Finally she concentrates on making the fire sprinkler system fail (a green FEAT). She succeeds, the room gets drenched, and the Committee adjourns before actually taking the vote. Tamper has another day to figure out some way to succeed.
Some events appear to be too complex for this Power. In such a case, the Mage should remember the adage, "From little acorns grow mighty oaks." A little timetampering today can snowball into a major rewrite of history in years to come.
Present: The Mage can change the conditions of her present surroundings. It is as if the Mage had somehow altered the past without realizing it. In truth, the Mage has built a pocket dimension that transformed her immediate surroundings into those of a world from an alternate timeline. The world she uses is one whose natural conditions most closely matches the desired conditions. The degree of difference between the real and the borrowed world determines what Intensity FEAT is required. A world that fairly closely matches that of the Marvel Universe requires a green FEAT. A world of major historical differences but similar in biological and geological terms requires a yellow FEAT. Worlds that are drastically different, such as a New York built by intelligent lizards, require a red FEAT.
The Mage can take any number of people along to this other-world. The maximum number is equal to the Power rank number. Anyone consciously brought along retains their original minds and memories of conditions in their native reality. Such passengers can operate freely anywhere within the Mage's area of control.
A size of the affected region is a spherical area whose size is determined by the Power rank. The radius is the number of miles equal to the Power rank number. A curious side-effect of this Power is that the affected area can be used as a gateway to the other-world it emulates. Anyone traveling beyond the range of the Mage's Power is automatically transported to that real world. Fortunately they retain a link to the Mage that allows them to automatically return if they again enter the area represented by the Mage's Power. This assumes they return while the Mage's little world still exists; if they tarry too long they become accidental emigrants to this other-world and will have to find their own way home.
The actual lifespan of the pocket dimension is determined by a separate Reason FEAT made at the time of creation. A green Reason FEAT gives a maximum duration of 2 hours times the Reason rank number. A yellow Feat increases it to 1 day times the Reason rank number. A red FEAT increases that to 10 days times the Reason rank number. In very special circumstances, the Mage might be able to make the duration permanent. In such a case, the pocket dimension has expanded to take in all of the emulated other-world. Such cases are entirely at the Judge's discretion and should be limited to extremely urgent rewritings of campaign history. An example of this might be if Fabian Stankowitz had accidentally killed all the Avengers in the last gaming session.
The Mage can terminate the pocket dimension at any time, thereby returning everyone to the real world. Their locations upon returning correspond to their relative positions in the other-world. If their earlier positions had been at an altitude or depth other than ground level, upon returning they are safely deposited on a surface that most resembles their earlier position. If none is available, they are deposited at ground level.
Past: The Mage can actually change past history and thereby really alter the present. This is the most powerful listing in this database. As such, it will probably be forbidden to player characters except in the rarest of cases. The range at which the Mage can reach into past is determined by the Power rank. The Mage must be at the site of any past event he wants to change. His Power rank decreases -1CS for each mile it is away from the actual site. The maximum temporal range is the number of weeks equal to the Power rank number. For example, a SY rank can reach nearly 4 years into the past.Temporal Flow: Alter Temporal Flow—The Mage can alter the rate at which time passes. He can accelerate or decelerate it to such a point that the affected area is apparently in stasis. The maximum amount that time is altered is proportional to the Power rank number. Time is accelerated by its normal rate times the Power rank number. For example, a Gd(10) rank can make time pass at tenfold speed.The difficulty of the desired change determines what Intensity rank is required. Single physical events, such as anything determined by a single die roll, can be changed by a green FEAT. Complex or sequential physical events or altering a single being's behavior requires a yellow FEAT. Altering the behavior of 2 or more beings requires a red FEAT. The reason most Judges will forbid their players to have this Power is that it requires them to rethink the history of their Marvel campaign in terms of this alteration. Take heart in the cynical knowledge that most people's actions do not significantly alter the fabric of history. As a rule of thumb concerning common people, there is only a 1-in-a-1,000 chance that 1 person's changed decision will have a significant effect on history. When dealing with influential people (leaders, super beings, creative types, and so on), the probability rises to 1-in-10.Note: There is much debate over the true nature of tampering with the past. Is there a single timeline that is irreparably changed by each act of tampering? Are there infinite worlds and thus tampering is not only allowed but encouraged? Does the act of tampering actually catapult the tamperer into an alternate world of her own devising? The game mechanics support the last interpretation. Each Judge's Marvel campaign is set in an alternate world that more or less mirrors the published accounts of the Marvel Universe (the comic books, people). Extensive tampering in the past affects only the world of the tamperer and her player. Judges can even play several alternate timelines, switching among them at each gaming session.
Deceleration makes time apparently pass at arate equal to the normal rate divided by the Power rank number. For example, a Mn(75) rate can stretch 1 minute into 75 minutes.
The perception of time's passage depends on who is actually accelerated or decelerated. To an accelerated person, the world has slowed down. To a decelerated person, time has sped up. Clever Mages can really screw people up by playing on this. For example, decelerating everyone around a certain person might make that person believe that he had actually been accelerated.
The Power may be used to alter either the Mage or another target. If it is used against another, that target is allowed to resist. Such means include Force Field vs. Magic, Resistance to Magic, and Time Travel. The Power can be developed into a Variety of Power stunts.
Optional Powers include Precognition to alter the Future, Clairvoyance to alter the Present, and Postcognition to Alter the Past.
Each form is its own Nemesis.
Range: Column A.