Time for a new update, and today I would like to go over a little item tucked away in the Scientific Equipment section. Most bits and pieces here are things you will readily recognise - Geiger counters, kits dedicated to specific fields of science, so you can use your astronomy or geology skills when out of your HQ, and so forth.
And then there is the Paraphysicist Field Kit.
One version of it, at least...
The important thing we come back to, time and again, in the Core Rulebook is this: Nobody knows anything.
Lots of people think they know what is going on with the Dark, but no one, not even in the upper echelons of the Company (whoever they may be...), really know what is happening, why it is happening, or how to stop it.
Doesn't stop people trying to figure it out though - and your Operatives can be part of that process.
Finding the Dark
The nature of empathy is barely understood, and the ‘science’ based around it is barely worthy of the term. However, something beyond what is thought of 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.
Practice Makes Perfect
What is clear is that the effectiveness of each field kit is based upon 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.
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 2+, 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.
Of course, it may not always work as intended...
Build Your Own
This is where it gets fun...
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 to create a field kit require Requisition 7 and need a task chain to assemble over 1D days, using the following skills:
An optional Average (8+) Empathy Use check (EMP) can be added
Average (8+) Mechanic check (INT)
Success in this task chain will result in the creation of a new paraphysicist field kit. Success with Effect 6+ will grant DM+2 to any attempt to use it, though this can still be improved with continued use as normal (to a maximum DM+8).
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.
So, that is the Paraphysicist Field Kit! We have a lot more previews on the way - including the Everyman career, which seems to be quite popular in the poll that is being run at the moment!
