Power Modifiers allow characters to customize their abilities, adding a special effect that better reflects their power’s Trapping.
Power Modifiers are selected when a power is activated and may be freely changed each time. An icy bolt might cause Armor Piercing damage in one attack and Lingering Damage in the next.
The common modifiers listed on this page can be used with any power a character is using (unless otherwise prevented from modifying the power). Some powers also list additional specific Power Modifiers that can be used with that power.
Casters must declare which modifiers they’re using before rolling their arcane skill. The number in parentheses is the price in additional Power Points it costs to add the effect. A Power Modifier may only be applied once per casting.
Duration: Power Modifiers last for the Duration of the spell, or until the end of the target’s next turn in the case of Instant powers.
Epic Powers: Some Power Modifiers are marked with a gold star. These are Epic Powers requiring the Arcane or Divine Mastery Edges (see the individual Class Edges).
The caster can spend 1 extra Power Point when activating a power to alter its Trapping. This can have important consequences if a foe has a particular resistance to the spell’s usual Trapping or weakness to the new one!
The attack is focused to defeat armor or seeks out a foe’s exposed areas. Each Power Point spent grants the power AP 2, to a maximum of AP 6.
Powers that drain or tax an opponent can cause Fatigue. The modifier may be attached to any power that can cause damage or is resisted by the target. If she’s affected by the power in any way, she also suffers Fatigue. This cannot cause Incapacitation, however.
Glow creates soft light (caster’s choice of color) in a Small Blast Template centered on the target. It subtracts 2 from her Stealth totals and negates 1 point of Illumination penalties for those attacking the glowing character.
Shroud dims and slightly obscures the target so that attacks against her suffer a -1 penalty and she adds +1 to her Stealth rolls.
The caster creates a focused blast. The attack counts as a Heavy Weapon.
The target is slowed in some way, perhaps due to intense cold, a slippery surface, or even binding matter or energy. His base Pace is reduced by 2.
A caster can Hurry the recipient instead, granting increased energy, sure footing, or more powerful muscles. His Pace is increased by 2.
Effects of either modifier aren’t cumulative.
The target is hit by fire, cold, acid, gnawing insects, or some other Trapping that continues to cause damage after the initial attack. On the victim’s next turn, he suffers the power’s base damage minus one die type (for one additional turn only). If hit with a 2d6 bolt, for example, the victim takes 2d4 damage at the start of his next turn. If the base damage is already a d4 die type, it is d4–2 instead.
Double the power’s listed Range for 1 Power Point, or triple it for +2. This modifier may not be used on powers with a Range of Touch or the Cone or Stream Template.
With intense focus, the caster can choose not to affect any or all individual targets within a power’s area of effect (picking all enemies instead of allies in a blast, for example).