Case had seen the medium before; when he'd been a teenager in the Sprawl, they'd called it, "dreaming real." He remembered thin Puerto Ricans under East Side streetlights, dreaming real to the quick beat of a salsa, dreamgirls shuddering and turning, the onlookers clapping in time. But that had needed a van full of gear and a clumsy trode helmet.
What Riviera dreamed, you got.
In working on the Augments, one idea kept gnawing on me: the augmentations of Peter Riviera. In and of themselves, they're too powerful for what I was going for in the augmentation list, but they were far too tempting of abilities to pass up. In the beginning, I was worried about balance, figuring with no magic in the world, any magic like abilities would be overpowered. But then I remembered this is the GLoG and that player templates ain't gotta (completely) worry about balance. Also, any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
While I can't condone actual drug usage, I do fully support replacing perfectly working parts of your body with robotic parts of questionable construct and functionality. The human body is full of redundancies.
Dreaming Real
Some call you a mad man. Others call you an artist. Both are correct.
While most who practice in holographic art forms are content with mediocre performances using rusted vans full of old equipment, you refuse to settle for anything less than bleeding edge perfection. You've given of yourself - literally, organs have been removed - and in doing so have joined with your art. You are it and it is you. What you imagine, the world sees.
A transmitter is installed in your chest, image projection arrays line your torso and limbs, and a control unit with silco/vivo interface is lodged in your head. And it all fucking hurts.
To combat the pain, and allow for tolerable usage of your abilities, you've turned to the modern solution to nearly every problem: drugs. Specifically a speedball mixed with immunosuppressants - let's call it a fizzball, sure, why not. You need Fizzball in your system in order to use your active abilities, with each ability costing a certain number of doses to use (noted with the ability). You can have up to your Template number of doses in your system at any one time.
Also, you can't wear armor. Clothes are already a hassle as they block the light emitted from you, and heavy covering of body armor would block your projections entirely. Okay, so, yes, you can technically wear armor, but not while you're looking to project.
Starting Equipment: 3 doses of Fizzball, Medium ranged weapon
Starting Skill: 1) Modern Art, 2) Street Pharmacy, 3) Black Clinics
A Illusion
B Disguise, Torch
C Color Spray
D Scene Change, EMP
Illusion
Range: 50' Cost: 1/object Duration: Concentration
You create a perfect hologram of whatever object or creature you want. It moves and acts as you desire, as long as you concentrate, but cannot provide any other sensory input. Holograms can only add, not subtract, and the target area must be within your line of sight.
Disguise
R: Self C: 1 D: One minute
Remember that scene in Bladerunner 2049, with the robots, hologram, and banging? Well, you can do that now. Sort of. You can overlay yourself with a three dimensional hologram, disguising yourself as a different person.
Torch
R: Self C: 2 D: One minute
Practicing with the aguments has allowed you to figure out how to project pure, white light from yourself. This light illuminates up to 20' around you.
Color Spray
R: 20' C: 3 D: Instant
You send a blitzkrieg of flashing light, quickly alternating in colors, into the target's eyes, with the intent to overload something within their head. They must Save vs Light, or be Blind for 1d4 rounds. Critical failing the save here indicates something has clicked in their head, and they fall unconscious for 1d6 rounds instead.
Scene Change
R: 50' C: 4 D: Concentration
Similar to Illusion, only you affect the entire room around you, sculpting it as you see fit, up to any number of objects. Same terms and conditions apply.
EMP
R: 50' C: 4 D: Instant
The thing about visible is that it's just a small chuck of a huge spectrum ranging from AM transmissions to Gamma Rays. With a herculean effort of will, you change the frequency of your projections to affect electrical equipment around you, forcing it to Save vs Shut Down. Extended exposure to this ability is not healthy.
Fizzball
As stated above, it's your basic speedball with immunosuppressants mixed in, typically taken intravenously ("shot up") or insufflated ("snorted"). While it may seem purely recreational at first, the strong drugs actually serve a purpose: the morphine in it dulls the pain of the augments, the cocaine keeps you awake, and the suppressants keep your body from rejecting the augments. However, like any drug of it's sort, there's a danger to regular usage, one you probably can't put off forever. But such is the price you must pay for being one with your art.
When ingesting Fizzball, give a roll on the table below:
| 2d6 | Result |
|---|---|
| 10+ | Normal |
| 7-9 | "Functional" |
| 3-6 | Incapacitated |
| 2 | Cardiac Arrest |
Normal - You've ingested the drug and are suffering no ill side effects currently.
'Functional" - You can still technically function, though you're irritable, paranoid, and easily confused. All rolls related to a physical or mental task ar made at a stacking -1 penalty.
Incapacitated - The drug has turned on you. Gotten it's claws into you. You begin to nod off into a heavy sleep.
Cardiac Arrest - The combination of uppers and downers prove to be too much for your heart. Your ticker is no in full blown heart attack. You've CON minutes to live, painfully, and all rolls are made at a -4. Better find some help quick.
