What are Supernormal Powers?
A Supernormal Power is a special type of Gift that represents an ability beyond the human norm. Magic, psychic ability, controlling an element or causing earthquakes, even cybernetics are Supernormal Powers.
A Supernormal Power is the equivalent of two normal Gifts; when a character is assigned a Supernormal Power, the character is also assigned two free Skills at 0 (Skilled) level. The Supernormal Power describes what the power is, the Skills describes how the character uses the Supernormal Power; while the Supernormal Power itself can be vague in nature, the Supernormal Power Skills must be specific.
Example: Agent Smith begins the game with the Supernormal Power of "Cybernetic Arms". He also starts with the "Cybernetic Punching" Skill at 0 (Skilled) and the "Cybernetic Parrying" Skill at 0 (Skilled).
Example: Tim the Enchanter begins the game with the Supernormal Power of "I… am an Enchanter!". As befitting his namesake, his player starts Tim the Enchanter with the "Fiery Explosions" Skill at 0 (Skilled) and the "Flamethrower" Skill at 0 (Skilled).
A character can start the game with additional Supernormal Power Skills, however, they must be obtained via trading Gifts and Faults; they cannot come from the character's initial Skill allotment.
Should the player attempt something with a Supernormal Power that is not covered by one of the character's Supernormal Power Skills, the attempt is made with a -2 (Unskilled) penalty.
Example: Agent Smith has spotted someone trapped underneath a car; he decides to use his "Cybernetic Arms" Supernormal Power to lift the car off of the victim. Unfortunately, he is Unskilled at "Cybernetic Lifting" and so makes his roll with a -2 penalty.
Example: Tim the Enchanter is being attacked by a monstrous ogre and decides to use his "I… am an Enchanter!" Supernormal Power to whip up a "Fiery Shield" between him and the ogre. Sadly, he is Unskilled at anything other than "Fiery Explosions" and "Flamethrower", so he'll make his roll with a -2 penalty.
Each Supernormal Power grants the character a total of 4 +1 bonuses which can be used each round as desired. This means that +4 could be assigned to one Skill use, +2 could be assigned to each of two Skill uses, +3 could be assigned to one Skill use while +1 is assigned to another Skill use, or +1 could be assigned to four different skill uses.
Example: Agent Smith knows that he doesn't have a lot of experience lifting things like cars with his "Cybernetic Arms", so he's going to put everything he has into it. He assigns the full +4 bonus to his "Cybernetic Lifting" roll.
Example: Tim the Enchanter knows that the fiery shield is only a temporary delay in the ogre's attacks, so he reserves some of his strength; he assigns +2 to the "Fiery Shield" and keeps +2 for use later in the round.
There is no defined list of Supernormal Powers in the game; these should be created on an individual basis as befitting the character conception. When your character takes their first Supernormal Power, an origin should be chosen detailing how the character received the power. All future Supernatural Powers should tie in to that origin as well.
Charging
Example: Mr. Andersen has the Psychic Abilities Supernormal Power, with a 2 round charging time. Should Mr. Andersen wish to use the Supernormal Power Skills tied to his Psychic Abilities, he must first allow 2 rounds to pass; on the 3rd round he will have 5 +1 bonuses to spread among those skills. He must allow 2 more rounds to pass before a second use of his Psychic Abilities can occur.
Using Supernormal Powers
The rules used for Supernormal Powers in Power Fudge are designed to be as generic and universal as possible. Because so many things can be experienced in the game, the Supernormal Powers that characters (both player- and GM- controlled) can have need to be equally varied and yet consistent across the rules.
When designing Supernormal Powers, think first on what you want the character to be able to do. Will the character be a wizard? If so, then the Supernormal Power itself would be the type of magic the character wields, and each related Skill would be a spell. Will the character have “super powers”? If so, then the Supernormal Power represents the “super power” itself, with each skill an expression of the power. Will the character be a cyborg or have some cybernetic enhancements? The Supernormal Power would represent the cybernetic enhancement itself, with each Skill representing what the character can do with the enhancement.
As with mundane Gifts and Faults, all Supernormal Powers should be discussed with the GM during character creation.
